E.
_1879, October 11_.
DEAR SIR,
Pardon my intrusion on you, in reference to a transaction which has
greatly interested me--the honour paid by you to the memory of Thomas
Clarkson. With very great pleasure I have heard of this step: and I
have also been much satisfied with the remarks on it in the "Times." I
well remember, in Clarkson's "History of the Abolition," which I read
some 60 years ago, the account of the circumstance, now commemorated
by you, which determined the action of his whole subsequent life.
It is not improbable that, among those who still remember Clarkson, my
acquaintance with him began at the earliest time of all. I knew him,
intimately, from the beginning of 1815 to his death. The family which
he represented must have occupied a very good position in society. I
have heard that he sold two good estates to defray the expenses which
he incurred in his personal labours for Abolition: and his brother was
Governor of Sierra Leone (I know not at what time appointed). Thomas
Clarkson was at St John's College; and, as I gather from circumstances
which I have heard him mention, must have been a rather gay man. He
kept a horse, and at one time kept two.
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