REMINISCENCES OF THE MOST DISTINGUISHED CHARACTERS WHO COUNTRIES, DURING THE LAST FIFTY YEARS. ILLUSTRATED BY FACSIMILES OF TWO HUNDRED AUTOGRAPHS. IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. I. LONDON: HENRY COLBURN AND RICHARD BENTLEY, NEW BURLINGTON STREET. 1831. ADVERTISEMENT. An old and much respected friend, the Abbé Gregoire, Bishop of Blois, recently sent me the History of the First French Convention, with the following inscription, written in English with his own hand: "Presented by the Author, To the most indefatigable man in Britain; and to the man in Europe of the greatest acquaintance." To be "indefatigable," is a characteristic of the Scottish nation; and a person who, for so many years, has been incessantly occupied with public transactions,has been engaged in such extensive inquiries,—and has travelled so much in foreign countries, must have "a very numerous acquaintance." The inscription, therefore, was in some degree appropriate, though strongly expressed, and heightened by foreign courtesy. But, besides a mere acquaintance, there is perhaps no private individual, who has carried on a more extensive correspondence, with so great a number of distinguished characters, both at home and abroad. The truth of this will appear by the following selection from my Domestic Correspondence, and the reminiscences |