Item 10 - Letter from William Whewell

WW was disappointed at not seeing HJR in London. He was to have gone with Charles Babbage to Sir Joseph Banks on Sunday but was unwell. WW has been trying to improve his philology by studying Welsh: 'It is not a language wh. there is much temptation to learn'. WW does not believe that we owe much to our Celtic ancestors, and that the most valuable aspects of our manners and constitutions is derived from our gothic past. It has been a long time since WW has read Butler [Joseph Butler]: 'It is a book of negatives. Its object is not to prove, but to remove the presumptions against, natural & revealed religion...he claims the ground and then leaves revelation & other arguments to reset the building.' Did HJR see Jeremy Bentham? WW notes that his 'Church of Englandism' has come out again.