Item 15 - Letter from William Whewell

4 pp.

WW would rejoice to see HJR move near to Cambridge. WW met Richard Jones and saw a great deal of him for two or three days: 'He took very strongly to metaphysics and happening to have made up his mind that the two words "necessary truth" ought not to be placed in immediate contact' proceeded to abuse the author of a book which made this connection: 'Not content with pouring forth all his own rage upon them, he went about to all his friends, protesting like a true parson (with your fervor) that church and king, the cause of sound doctrine and good practice, were all endangered by this unnatural union - I endeavoured in vain to appease him by shewing that neither reason nor custom had forbid the connexion'. Has HJR heard 'of a most material revolution which has taken place at St. John's - the spirit of abolishing privileges & equalising rights has entered even there - the last place one should expect to find it. In short they have got a King's letter, one of the first instruments his Majesty signed, abolishing all restrictions upon their fellowships so that they are now as open as ours. The king's power of course extends only to the foundation fellowship but they seem to imagine that eventually they will be able to open all - this is a most material improvement in their constitution and will I suppose if possible make them more loyal than before'. How is HJR's work on inscriptions progressing? There has on the whole been no shortage of material for the new Society [Cambridge Philosophical Society], but they have all been rather bored by 'an endless paper of good old Farish's [William Farish] upon what he calls "isometrical perspective"'.