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 FORCING FOR
MATHEMATICIANS

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 FORCING FOR
MATHEMATICIANS

Nik Weaver
Washington University in St. Louis, USA

World Scientific
NEW JERSEY • LONDON • SINGAPORE • BEIJING • SHANGHAI • HONG KONG • TA I P E I • CHENNAI

8962_9789814566001_tp.indd 2 8/1/14 1:43 pm

Published by
World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd.
5 Toh Tuck Link, Singapore 596224
USA office: 27 Warren Street, Suite 401-402, Hackensack, NJ 07601
UK office: 57 Shelton Street, Covent Garden, London WC2H 9HE

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Weaver, Nik, author.
Forcing for mathematicians / by Nik Weaver (Washington University in St. Louis, USA).
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-9814566001 (hardcover : alk. paper)
1. Forcing (Model theory) 2. Set theory. 3. Axiom of choice. 4. Continuum hypothesis.
I. Title.
QA9.7.W435 2014
511.3'4--dc23
2013047943

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Copyright © 2014 by World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd.

All rights reserved. This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form or by any means,
electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any information storage and retrieval
system now known or to be invented, without written permission from the publisher.

For photocopying of material in this volume, please pay a copying fee through the Copyright Clearance
Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, USA. In this case permission to photocopy
is not required from the publisher.

Printed in Singapore
December 3, 2013 1:3 World Scientific Book - 9in x 6in forc

We’re doing set theory, so “sets” are sets of sets.

D. A. Martin

v
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Preface

This book was written for mathematicians who want to learn the basic
machinery of forcing. No background in logic is assumed, beyond the facil-
ity with formal syntax which should be second nature to any well-trained
mathematician.
As a student I found this subject confusing, so I have tried to explain
it in a way that I imagine would have made it easier for me to grasp. At
a technical level forcing is no more complex than any other serious math-
ematical topic; the difficulty is more a matter of needing to pay attention
to subtle distinctions which might seem pedantic but are actually very im-
portant, such as the distinction between an axiom and an axiom scheme,
or between reasoning in the target theory and reasoning in the metatheory.
In other expositions this last point is often clarified only after the basic
theory has been developed, almost as an afterthought. I felt that some
mystification could be avoided by getting metatheoretic issues off the table
at the start.
I have altered some standard definitions (most profitably, the definition
of a P -name) in order to simplify the presentation. You’re welcome.
A unique feature of the book is its emphasis on applications outside of
set theory which were previously only available in the primary literature.
Independence results raise deep philosophical questions about the na-
ture of mathematics. I have strong views on this subject and I felt it would
be disingenuous not to mention them; however, I have confined my remarks
on this topic to Chapter 30, so they can easily be ignored by readers who
are not interested in such discussions.
This work was partially supported by NSF grant DMS-1067726.

Nik Weaver

vii
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Contents

Preface vii

1. Peano Arithmetic 1

2. Zermelo-Fraenkel Set Theory 5

3. Well-Ordered Sets 9

4. Ordinals 13

5. Cardinals 17

6. Relativization 21

7. Reflection 25

8. Forcing Notions 29

9. Generic Extensions 33

10. Forcing Equality 37

11. The Fundamental Theorem 41

12. Forcing CH 45

13. Forcing ¬ CH 49

14. Families of Entire Functions* 53

ix
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x Forcing for Mathematicians

15. Self-Homeomorphisms of βN \ N, I* 57

16. Pure States on B(H)* 61

17. The Diamond Principle 65

18. Suslin’s Problem, I* 69

19. Naimark’s Problem* 73

20. A Stronger Diamond 77

21. Whitehead’s Problem, I* 81

22. Iterated Forcing 85

23. Martin’s Axiom 89

24. Suslin’s Problem, II* 93

25. Whitehead’s Problem, II* 97

26. The Open Coloring Axiom 101

27. Self-Homeomorphisms of βN \ N, II* 105

28. Automorphisms of the Calkin Algebra, I* 109

29. Automorphisms of the Calkin Algebra, II* 113

30. The Multiverse Interpretation 117

Appendix A Forcing with Preorders 121

Exercises 123
Notes 129
Bibliography 133
Notation Index 137
Subject Index 139
December 3, 2013 1:3 World Scientific Book - 9in x 6in forc

Chapter 1

Peano Arithmetic

Forcing is a powerful technique for proving consistency and independence

results in relation to axiomatic set theory. A statement is consistent with
a given family of axioms if it cannot be disproven on the basis of those
axioms, and independent of them if it can be neither proven nor disproven.
When we have established that some assertion is consistent, there is still
hope that it might actually be provable from the axioms, but once we have
shown it is independent the matter is closed.
The preeminent historical example of an independent statement is Eu-
clid’s fifth axiom, the parallel postulate:

(5) Given a line and a point not on that line, at most one line can be drawn
through the given point that is parallel to the given line.

This statement is independent of the other four axioms of Euclidean geom-

etry:

(1) A straight line can be drawn between any two points.

(2) A line segment can be extended indefinitely in both directions.
(3) A circle can be drawn with any center and any radius.
(4) All right angles are equal to each other.

How do we know this? The parallel postulate is consistent with the other
four axioms because all five statements hold in the standard Euclidean
plane. Its negation is consistent with the other four axioms because the
first four axioms hold in a hyperbolic plane (taking “lines” to be geodesics),
but the parallel postulate fails. Thus, we may assume either the parallel
postulate or its negation without fear of contradiction.
No doubt the reader is already familiar to some degree with this example
and is not about to raise any objections to the conclusion we just reached.

1
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2 Forcing for Mathematicians

But there is room for criticism. The problem is that Euclid’s “axioms”
are stated in an informal manner that apparently presupposes an intuitive
grasp of the flat plane they are intended to describe. In fact they hardly
qualify as axioms in the modern sense. To be fair, Euclid does preface
his axioms with informal “definitions” of the terms appearing in them, but
several of these are also quite vague (e.g., “a line is a breadthless length”)
and again presuppose some implicit knowledge of the subject matter.
Thus, there is a legitimate question as to whether it is completely clear
that this implicit knowledge assumed by Euclid is compatible with the hy-
perbolic plane example. I do not wish to argue this point, only to emphasize
the desirability of setting up a purely formal axiomatic system equipped
with a precise symbolic language and well-defined rules of inference. If the
system is ambiguous in any way then we cannot consider consistency and
independence to be rigorous mathematical concepts.
Peano arithmetic, usually abbreviated PA, is a good example of a formal
axiomatic system. It is simple enough to be described in detail. These
details don’t matter so much for us, but seeing them once may help give
the reader a clearer sense of the way axiomatic systems work.
The language of PA is specified as follows. We start with an infinite
list of variables x, y, . . .; a constant symbol 0; symbols for the addition,
multiplication, and successor operations (+, ·, ′ ); and parentheses. The
variables are to be thought of as ranging over the natural numbers, and the
successor symbol as representing the operation of adding 1. A term is any
grammatical expression built up from these components, e.g., something
like 0′′ + x · y ′ (with parentheses omitted here for the sake of readability),
and an atomic formula is a statement of the form t1 = t2 where t1 and t2 are
terms. Finally, a formula is any statement built up from atomic formulas
using parentheses and the logical symbols ¬ (not), → (implies), and ∀ (for
all).
For the sake of economy, we can limit ourselves to these three logical
symbols and regard expressions involving the symbols ∨ (or), ∧ (and), ↔
(if and only if), and ∃ (there exists) as abbreviating longer expressions
involving only ¬, →, and ∀. For instance, φ ∨ ψ is equivalent to ¬φ → ψ.
Thus statements like “x is prime” can be rendered symbolically, say as
¬(x = 0′ ) ∧ (∀y)(∀z)[x = y · z → (y = 0′ ∨ z = 0′ )],
and then translated into a form that uses only ¬, →, and ∀. Evidently, this
simple language is flexible enough to express a large variety of elementary
number-theoretic assertions: every number is a sum of four squares, there
is a prime pair greater than any number, etc.
December 3, 2013 1:3 World Scientific Book - 9in x 6in forc

Peano Arithmetic 3

The axioms of PA come in three groups. First, we have logical axioms

which represent general logical truths, starting with

L1 φ → (ψ → φ)
L2 [φ → (ψ → θ)] → [(φ → ψ) → (φ → θ)]
L3 (¬ψ → ¬φ) → (φ → ψ).

Properly speaking, the preceding are not axioms but axiom schemes, mean-
ing that they are to be thought of as templates which can be used to gen-
erate infinitely many axioms by replacing φ, ψ, and θ with any formulas.
Also falling under the rubric of “logical axioms” are two schemes pertaining
to quantification,

L4 (∀x)(φ → ψ) → (φ → (∀x)ψ),

where φ and ψ are any formulas such that φ contains no unquantified

appearance of x, and

L5 (∀x)φ(x) → φ(t),

where φ is any formula and t is any term that can be substituted for x in
φ(x) without any of its variables becoming quantified. (This restriction on
t prevents disasters like (∀x)(∃y)(y = x) → (∃y)(y = y ′ ).)
Next, we have equality axioms which describe basic properties of equal-
ity. The axioms

E1 x=x
E2 x=y→y=x
E3 x = y → (y = z → x = z)
E4 x = y → x′ = y ′

suffice here. Axioms analogous to E4 for the other operations + and · need
not be added separately because they can be proven, within PA, from E4.
Finally, PA includes the non-logical axioms

(1) ¬(0 = x′ )
(2) x′ = y ′ → x = y
(3) x+0= x
(4) x + y ′ = (x + y)′
(5) x·0 =0
(6) x · y′ = x · y + x
(7) φ(0) → [(∀x)(φ(x) → φ(x′ )) → (∀x)φ(x)]
December 3, 2013 1:3 World Scientific Book - 9in x 6in forc

4 Forcing for Mathematicians

which represent truths specific to arithmetic. These are all single axioms
except for the induction scheme (7), in which φ can be any formula.
The formal system is completed by specifying three rules of inference:
I1 from φ and φ → ψ, infer ψ
I2 from φ, infer (∀x)φ
I3 from φ, infer φ̃
which are also presented schematically; in the last scheme φ̃ can be any
formula obtained from φ by renaming variables. (This last scheme is neces-
sary because earlier axioms were stated in terms of the particular variables
x, y, and z.) A theorem of PA is any formula which is either an axiom
or can be derived from finitely many axioms by the application of finitely
many rules of inference.
Peano arithmetic attains a perfect degree of precision. It would not be
terribly difficult to write a computer program that would mechanically print
out all the theorems provable in PA. The question whether some formula
in the language of arithmetic is or is not a theorem is completely precise.
Although the Peano axioms are simple, they are quite powerful. Loosely
speaking, all “ordinary” reasoning in elementary number theory can be
formalized in PA. Indeed, we might define elementary number theory to be
that part of number theory which can be formally codified in PA.
There are arithmetical assertions which are known to be independent
of PA, although it is not so easy to come up with examples. The existence
of such assertions goes back to Gödel, though we now know of simpler
examples than the ones he constructed. But this topic falls outside our
purview.
The details of how one actually formalizes reasoning in PA need not con-
cern us here. It may be a valuable skill to be able to convert human-readable
proofs into the machine language of a formal system, but developing that
skill is not our purpose. So we will simply ask the reader to accept that
elementary reasoning about numbers can be carried out in PA. More infor-
mation on formalization of proofs can be found in any good introduction
to mathematical logic.
December 3, 2013 1:3 World Scientific Book - 9in x 6in forc

Chapter 2

Zermelo-Fraenkel Set Theory

The standard formal system for reasoning about sets is ZFC, Zermelo-
Fraenkel set theory with the axiom of choice. This is a pure set theory,
meaning that there are no objects besides sets. Every element of a set is
another set.
The formal language of set theory is even simpler than the language
of arithmetic. We have an infinite list of variables x, y, . . ., and the only
atomic formulas are those of the form x ∈ y or x = y, with any variables in
place of x and y. There are no “terms” other than individual variables. As
in arithmetic, arbitrary formulas are built up from atomic formulas using
¬, →, and ∀, and we justify the informal use of other logical symbols by
reducing them to these symbols. The logical axiom schemes of ZFC are
the same schemes L1-L5 used in PA, although the actual axioms generated
by these schemes are different, because the pool of formulas available to be
substituted into the templates is different. We need two equality axioms,
x = y → (x ∈ z → y ∈ z) and x = y → (z ∈ x → z ∈ y). The rules of
inference for ZFC are generated by the same schemes I1-I3 used in PA.
The non-logical axioms of ZFC consist of seven individual axioms and
two schemes. We will state them informally, but it would not be hard to
translate them into the formal language of set theory. (It might not be
obvious how to express the notion of a function, which appears in axiom
(7). We can do this by regarding a function as a set of ordered pairs and
then using Kuratowski’s trick of encoding the ordered pair hx, yi as the set
{{x}, {x, y}}.)

Zermelo-Fraenkel axioms

(1) Extensionality. Two sets are equal if they have the same elements.
(2) Pairing. For all x and y there exists a set whose elements are x and y.

5
 Another Random Document on
Scribd Without Any Related Topics
 TO WALTER SCOTT, ESQ., EDINBURGH.

Ragley, 31st August, 1813.

Sir,—I thought it my duty to his Royal Highness, the Prince

Regent, to express to him my humble opinion that I could not
make so creditable a choice as in your person for the office, now
vacant, of poet laureate. I am now authorized to offer it to you,
which I would have taken an earlier opportunity of doing, but
that, till this morning, I have had no occasion of seeing his Royal
Highness since Mr. Pye's death. I have the honor to be, sir, your
most obedient, humble servant,

Ingram Hertford.

The following letters conclude this matter:—

TO THE MOST NOBLE THE MARQUIS OF HERTFORD, ETC., ETC.,

RAGLEY, WARWICKSHIRE.

Abbotsford, 4th September.

My Lord,—I am this day honored with your Lordship's letter of

the 31st August, tendering for my acceptance the situation of
poet laureate in the Royal Household. I shall always think it the
highest honor of my life to have been the object of the good
opinion implied in your Lordship's recommendation, and in the
gracious acquiescence of his Royal Highness, the Prince Regent. I
humbly trust I shall not forfeit sentiments so highly valued,
although I find myself under the necessity of declining, with
every acknowledgment of respect and gratitude, a situation
above my deserts, and offered to me in a manner so very
flattering. The duties attached to the office of poet laureate are
not indeed very formidable, if judged of by the manner in which
they have sometimes been discharged. But an individual selected
from the literary characters of Britain, upon the honorable
principle expressed in your Lordship's letter, ought not, in justice
to your Lordship, to his own reputation, but above all to his Royal
Highness, to accept of the office, unless he were conscious of the
power of filling it respectably, and attaining to excellence in the
execution of the tasks which it imposes. This confidence I am so
far from possessing, that, on the contrary, with all the
advantages which do now, and I trust ever will, present
themselves to the poet whose task it may be to commemorate
the events of his Royal Highness's administration, I am certain I
should feel myself inadequate to the fitting discharge of the
regularly recurring duty of periodical composition, and should
thus at once disappoint the expectation of the public, and, what
would give me still more pain, discredit the nomination of his
Royal Highness.

Will your Lordship permit me to add, that though far from

being wealthy, I already hold two official situations in the line of
my profession, which afford a respectable income. It becomes
me, therefore, to avoid the appearance of engrossing one of the
few appointments which seem specially adapted for the provision
of those whose lives have been dedicated exclusively to
literature, and who too often derive from their labors more credit
than emolument.

Nothing could give me greater pain than being thought

ungrateful to his Royal Highness's goodness, or insensible to the
honorable distinction his undeserved condescension has been
pleased to bestow upon me. I have to trust to your Lordship's
kindness for laying at the feet of his Royal Highness, in the way
most proper and respectful, my humble, grateful, and dutiful
thanks, with these reasons for declining a situation which,
though every way superior to my deserts, I should chiefly have
valued as a mark of his Royal Highness's approbation.
 For your Lordship's unmerited goodness, as well as for the
trouble you have had upon this occasion, I can only offer you my
respectful thanks, and entreat that you will be pleased to believe
me, my Lord Marquis, your Lordship's much obliged and much
honored humble servant,

Walter Scott.

TO HIS GRACE THE DUKE OF BUCCLEUCH, ETC., DRUMLANRIG

CASTLE.

Abbotsford, September 5, 1813.

My dear Lord Duke,—Good advice is easily followed when it

jumps with our own sentiments and inclinations. I no sooner
found mine fortified by your Grace's opinion than I wrote to Lord
Hertford, declining the laurel in the most civil way I could
imagine. I also wrote to the Prince's librarian, who had made
himself active on the occasion, dilating, at somewhat more
length than I thought respectful to the Lord Chamberlain, my
reasons for declining the intended honor. My wife has made a
copy of the last letter, which I enclose for your Grace's perusal:
there is no occasion either to preserve or return it—but I am
desirous you should know what I have put my apology upon, for
I may reckon on its being misrepresented. I certainly should
never have survived the recitative described by your Grace: it is a
part of the etiquette I was quite unprepared for, and should have
sunk under it. It is curious enough that Drumlanrig should always
have been the refuge of bards who decline court promotion. Gay,
I think, refused to be a gentleman-usher, or some such post;[35]
and I am determined to abide by my post of Grand Ecuyer
Trenchant of the Chateau, varied for that of tale-teller of an
evening.

I will send your Grace a copy of the letter of guarantee when I

receive it from London. By an arrangement with Longman and
Co., the great booksellers in Paternoster Row, I am about to be
enabled to place their security, as well as my own, between your
Grace and the possibility of hazard. But your kind readiness to
forward a transaction which is of such great importance both to
my fortune and comfort can never be forgotten—although it can
scarce make me more than I have always been, my dear Lord,
your Grace's much obliged and truly faithful,

Walter Scott.

(Copy—Enclosure.)

TO THE REV. J. S. CLARKE, ETC., ETC., ETC., PAVILION,

BRIGHTON.

Abbotsford, 4th September, 1813.

Sir,—On my return to this cottage, after a short excursion, I

was at once surprised and deeply interested by the receipt of
your letter. I shall always consider it as the proudest incident of
my life that his Royal Highness, the Prince Regent, whose taste in
literature is so highly distinguished, should have thought of
naming me to the situation of poet laureate. I feel, therefore, no
small embarrassment lest I should incur the suspicion of churlish
ingratitude in declining an appointment in every point of view so
far above my deserts, but which I should chiefly have valued as
conferred by the unsolicited generosity of his Royal Highness,
and as entitling me to the distinction of terming myself an
immediate servant of his Majesty. But I have to trust to your
goodness in representing to his Royal Highness, with my most
grateful, humble, and dutiful acknowledgments, the
circumstances which compel me to decline the honor which his
undeserved favor has proposed for me. The poetical pieces I
have hitherto composed have uniformly been the hasty
production of impulses, which I must term fortunate, since they
have attracted his Royal Highness's notice and approbation. But I
strongly fear, or rather am absolutely certain, that I should feel
myself unable to justify, in the eye of the public, the choice of his
Royal Highness, by a fitting discharge of the duties of an office
which requires stated and periodical exertion. And although I am
conscious how much this difficulty is lessened under the
government of his Royal Highness, marked by paternal wisdom
at home and successes abroad which seem to promise the
liberation of Europe, I still feel that the necessity of a regular
commemoration would trammel my powers of composition at the
very time when it would be equally my pride and duty to tax
them to the uttermost. There is another circumstance which
weighs deeply in my mind while forming my present resolution. I
have already the honor to hold two appointments under
Government, not usually conjoined, and which afford an income,
far indeed from wealth, but amounting to decent independence. I
fear, therefore, that in accepting one of the few situations which
our establishment holds forth as the peculiar provision of literary
men, I might be justly censured as availing myself of his Royal
Highness's partiality to engross more than my share of the public
revenue, to the prejudice of competitors equally meritorious at
least, and otherwise unprovided for; and as this calculation will
be made by thousands who know that I have reaped great
advantages by the favor of the public, without being aware of the
losses which it has been my misfortune to sustain, I may fairly
reckon that it will terminate even more to my prejudice than if
they had the means of judging accurately of my real
circumstances. I have thus far, sir, frankly exposed to you, for his
Royal Highness's favorable consideration, the feelings which
induce me to decline an appointment offered in a manner so
highly calculated to gratify, I will not say my vanity only, but my
sincere feelings of devoted attachment to the crown and
constitution of my country, and to the person of his Royal
Highness, by whom its government has been so worthily
administered. No consideration on earth would give me so much
pain as the idea of my real feelings being misconstrued on this
occasion, or that I should be supposed stupid enough not to
estimate the value of his Royal Highness's favor, or so ungrateful
as not to feel it as I ought. And you will relieve me from great
anxiety if you will have the goodness to let me know if his Royal
Highness is pleased to receive favorably my humble and grateful
apology.

I cannot conclude without expressing my sense of your

kindness and of the trouble you have had upon this account, and
I request you will believe me, sir, your obliged humble servant,

Walter Scott.

TO ROBERT SOUTHEY, ESQ., KESWICK.

Abbotsford, 4th September, 1813.

My dear Southey,—On my return here I found, to my no small

surprise, a letter tendering me the laurel vacant by the death of
the poetical Pye. I have declined the appointment, as being
incompetent to the task of annual commemoration; but chiefly as
being provided for in my professional department, and unwilling
to incur the censure of engrossing the emolument attached to
one of the few appointments which seems proper to be filled by
a man of literature who has no other views in life. Will you
forgive me, my dear friend, if I own I had you in my recollection?
I have given Croker the hint, and otherwise endeavored to throw
the office into your option. I am uncertain if you will like it, for
the laurel has certainly been tarnished by some of its wearers,
and, as at present managed, its duties are inconvenient and
somewhat liable to ridicule. But the latter matter might be
amended, as I think the Regent's good sense would lead him to
lay aside these regular commemorations; and as to the former
point, it has been worn by Dryden of old, and by Warton in
modern days. If you quote my own refusal against me, I reply—
first, I have been luckier than you in holding two offices not
usually conjoined; secondly, I did not refuse it from any foolish
 prejudice against the situation, otherwise how durst I mention it
to you, my elder brother in the muse?—but from a sort of
internal hope that they would give it to you, upon whom it would
be so much more worthily conferred. For I am not such an ass as
not to know that you are my better in poetry, though I have had,
probably but for a time, the tide of popularity in my favor. I have
not time to add ten thousand other reasons, but I only wished to
tell you how the matter was, and to beg you to think before you
reject the offer which I flatter myself will be made to you. If I
had not been, like Dogberry, a fellow with two gowns already, I
should have jumped at it like a cock at a gooseberry. Ever yours
most truly,

Walter Scott.

Immediately after Mr. Croker received Scott's letter here alluded

to, Mr. Southey was invited to accept the vacant laurel. But, as the
birthday ode had been omitted since the illness of King George III.,
and the Regent had good sense and good taste enough to hold that
ancient custom as "more honored in the breach than the
observance," the whole fell completely into disuse.[36] The office was
thus relieved from the burden of ridicule which had, in spite of so
many illustrious names, adhered to it; and though its emoluments
did not in fact amount to more than a quarter of the sum at which
Scott rated them when he declined it, they formed no unacceptable
addition to Mr. Southey's income. Scott's answer to his brother poet's
affectionate and grateful letter on the conclusion of this affair is as
follows:—

TO R. SOUTHEY, ESQ., KESWICK.

Edinburgh, November 13, 1813.

I do not delay, my dear Southey, to say my gratulor. Long may

you live, as Paddy says, to rule over us, and to redeem the crown
of Spenser and of Dryden to its pristine dignity. I am only
discontented with the extent of your royal revenue, which I
thought had been £400, or £300 at the very least. Is there no
getting rid of that iniquitous modus, and requiring the butt in
kind? I would have you think of it; I know no man so well
entitled to Xeres sack as yourself, though many bards would
make a better figure at drinking it. I should think that in due time
a memorial might get some relief in this part of the appointment
—it should be at least, £100 wet and £100 dry. When you have
carried your point of discarding the ode, and my point of getting
the sack, you will be exactly in the situation of Davy in the farce,
who stipulates for more wages, less work, and the key of the ale-
cellar.[37] I was greatly delighted with the circumstances of your
investiture. It reminded me of the porters at Calais with Dr.
Smollett's baggage, six of them seizing upon one small
portmanteau, and bearing it in triumph to his lodgings. You see
what it is to laugh at the superstitions of a gentleman-usher, as I
think you do somewhere. "The whirligig of time brings in his
revenges."[38]

Adieu, my dear Southey; my best wishes attend all that you

do, and my best congratulations every good that attends you—
yea even this, the very least of Providence's mercies, as a poor
clergyman said when pronouncing grace over a herring. I should
like to know how the Prince received you; his address is said to
be excellent, and his knowledge of literature far from despicable.
What a change of fortune even since the short time when we
met! The great work of retribution is now rolling onward to
consummation, yet am I not fully satisfied—pereat iste!—there
will be no permanent peace in Europe till Buonaparte sleeps with
the tyrants of old. My best compliments attend Mrs. Southey and
your family.

Ever yours,

Walter Scott.
 To avoid returning to the affair of the laureateship, I have placed
together such letters concerning it as appeared important. I regret
to say that, had I adhered to the chronological order of Scott's
correspondence, ten out of every twelve letters between the date of
his application to the Duke of Buccleuch, and his removal to
Edinburgh on the 12th of November, would have continued to tell
the same story of pecuniary difficulty, urgent and almost daily
applications for new advances to the Ballantynes, and endeavors,
more or less successful, but in no case effectually so, to relieve the
pressure on the bookselling firm by sales of its heavy stock to the
great publishing houses of Edinburgh and London. Whatever success
these endeavors met with, appears to have been due either directly
or indirectly to Mr. Constable; who did a great deal more than
prudence would have warranted, in taking on himself the results of
its unhappy adventures,—and, by his sagacious advice, enabled the
distressed partners to procure similar assistance at the hands of
others, who did not partake his own feelings of personal kindness
and sympathy. "I regret to learn," Scott writes to him on the 16th
October, "that there is great danger of your exertions in our favor,
which once promised so fairly, proving finally abortive, or at least
being too tardy in their operation to work out our relief. If anything
more can be honorably and properly done to avoid a most
unpleasant shock, I shall be most willing to do it; if not—God's will
be done! There will be enough of property, including my private
fortune, to pay every claim; and I have not used prosperity so ill, as
greatly to fear adversity. But these things we will talk over at
meeting; meanwhile believe me, with a sincere sense of your
kindness and friendly views, very truly yours, W. S."—I have no wish
to quote more largely from the letters which passed during this crisis
between Scott and his partners. The pith and substance of his, to
John Ballantyne at least, seems to be summed up in one brief
postscript: "For God's sake treat me as a man, and not as a milch-
cow!"

The difficulties of the Ballantynes were by this time well known

throughout the commercial circles not only of Edinburgh, but of
London; and a report of their actual bankruptcy, with the addition
that Scott was engaged as their surety to the extent of £20,000,
found its way to Mr. Morritt about the beginning of November. This
dear friend wrote to him, in the utmost anxiety, and made liberal
offers of assistance in case the catastrophe might still be averted;
but the term of Martinmas, always a critical one in Scotland, had
passed before this letter reached Edinburgh, and Scott's answer will
show symptoms of a clearing horizon. I think also there is one
expression in it which could hardly have failed to convey to Mr.
Morritt that his friend was involved, more deeply than he had ever
acknowledged, in the concerns of the Messrs. Ballantyne.

TO J. B. S. MORRITT, ESQ., ROKEBY PARK.

Edinburgh, 20th November, 1813.

I did not answer your very kind letter, my dear Morritt, until I
could put your friendly heart to rest upon the report you have
heard, which I could not do entirely until this term of Martinmas
was passed. I have the pleasure to say that there is no truth
whatever in the Ballantynes' reported bankruptcy. They have had
severe difficulties for the last four months to make their
resources balance the demands upon them, and I, having the
price of Rokeby, and other monies in their hands, have had
considerable reason for apprehension, and no slight degree of
plague and trouble. They have, however, been so well supported,
that I have got out of hot water upon their account. They are
winding up their bookselling concern with great regularity, and
are to abide hereafter by the printing-office, which, with its
stock, etc., will revert to them fairly.

I have been able to redeem the offspring of my brain, and they

are like to pay me like grateful children. This matter has set me
a-thinking about money more seriously than ever I did in my life,
and I have begun by insuring my life for £4000, to secure some
 ready cash to my family should I slip girths suddenly. I think my
other property, library, etc., may be worth about £12,000, and I
have not much debt.

Upon the whole, I see no prospect of any loss whatever.

Although in the course of human events I may be disappointed,
there certainly can be none to vex your kind and affectionate
heart on my account. I am young, with a large official income,
and if I lose anything now, I have gained a great deal in my day.
I cannot tell you, and will not attempt to tell you, how much I
was affected by your letter—so much, indeed, that for several
days I could not make my mind up to express myself on the
subject. Thank God! all real danger was yesterday put over—and
I will write, in two or three days, a funny letter, without any of
these vile cash matters, of which it may be said there is no living
with them nor without them.

Ever yours, most truly,

Walter Scott.

All these annoyances produced no change whatever in Scott's

habits of literary industry. During these anxious months of
September, October, and November, he kept feeding James
Ballantyne's press, from day to day, both with the annotated text of
the closing volumes of Swift's works, and with the MS. of his Life of
the Dean. He had also proceeded to mature in his own mind the
plan of The Lord of the Isles, and executed such a portion of the
First Canto as gave him confidence to renew his negotiation with
Constable for the sale of the whole, or part of its copyright. It was,
moreover, at this period, that, looking into an old cabinet in search
of some fishing-tackle, his eye chanced to light once more on the
Ashestiel fragment of Waverley.—He read over those introductory
chapters—thought they had been undervalued—and determined to
finish the story.
 All this while, too, he had been subjected to those interruptions
from idle strangers, which from the first to the last imposed so
heavy a tax on his celebrity; and he no doubt received such guests
with all his usual urbanity of attention. Yet I was not surprised to
discover, among his hasty notes to the Ballantynes, several of tenor
akin to the following specimens:—

"September 2, 1813.

"My temper is really worn to a hair's breadth. The intruder of

yesterday hung on me till twelve to-day. When I had just taken
my pen, he was relieved, like a sentry leaving guard, by two
other lounging visitors; and their post has now been supplied by
some people on real business."

Again:—

"Monday evening.

"Oh James! oh James! Two Irish dames

Oppress me very sore;
I groaning send one sheet I've penned—
For, hang them! there's no more."

A scrap of nearly the same date to his brother Thomas may be

introduced, as belonging to the same state of feeling:—

Dear Tom,—I observe what you say as to Mr. ****; and as you
may often be exposed to similar requests, which it would be
difficult to parry, you can sign such letters of introduction as
relate to persons whom you do not delight to honor short, T.
Scott; by which abridgment of your name I shall understand to
limit my civilities.
 It is proper to mention that, in the very agony of these
perplexities, the unfortunate Maturin received from him a timely
succor of £50, rendered doubly acceptable by the kind and judicious
letter of advice in which it was enclosed; and I have before me
ample evidence that his benevolence had been extended to other
struggling brothers of the trade, even when he must often have had
actual difficulty to meet the immediate expenditure of his own
family. All this, however, will not surprise the reader.

Nor did his general correspondence suffer much interruption; and,

as some relief after so many painful details, I shall close the
narrative of this anxious year by a few specimens of his
miscellaneous communications:—

TO MISS JOANNA BAILLIE, HAMPSTEAD.

Abbotsford, September 12, 1813.

My dear Miss Baillie,—I have been a vile lazy correspondent,

having been strolling about the country, and indeed a little way
into England, for the greater part of July and August; in short,
"aye skipping here and there," like the Tanner of Tamworth's
horse. Since I returned, I have had a gracious offer of the laurel
on the part of the Prince Regent. You will not wonder that I have
declined it, though with every expression of gratitude which such
an unexpected compliment demanded. Indeed, it would be high
imprudence in one having literary reputation to maintain, to
accept of an offer which obliged him to produce a poetical
exercise on a given theme twice a year; and besides, as my
loyalty to the royal family is very sincere, I would not wish to
have it thought mercenary. The public has done its part by me
very well, and so has Government: and I thought this little
literary provision ought to be bestowed on one who has made
literature his sole profession. If the Regent means to make it
respectable, he will abolish the foolish custom of the annual
odes, which is a drudgery no person of talent could ever willingly
encounter—or come clear off from, if he was so rash. And so,
peace be with the laurel,

"Profaned by Cibber and contemned by Gray."

I was for a fortnight at Drumlanrig, a grand old chateau, which

has descended, by the death of the late Duke of Queensberry, to
the Duke of Buccleuch. It is really a most magnificent pile, and
when embosomed amid the wide forest scenery, of which I have
an infantine recollection, must have been very romantic. But old
Q. made wild devastation among the noble trees, although some
fine ones are still left, and a quantity of young shoots are, in
despite of the want of every kind of attention, rushing up to
supply the places of the fathers of the forest from whose stems
they are springing. It will now I trust be in better hands, for the
reparation of the castle goes hand in hand with the rebuilding of
all the cottages, in which an aged race of pensioners of Duke
Charles, and his pious wife,—"Kitty, blooming, young and gay,"—
have, during the last reign, been pining into rheumatisms and
agues, in neglected poverty.

All this is beautiful to witness: the indoor work does not please
me so well, though I am aware that, to those who are to inhabit
an old castle, it becomes often a matter of necessity to make
alterations by which its tone and character are changed for the
worse. Thus a noble gallery, which ran the whole length of the
front, is converted into bedrooms—very comfortable, indeed, but
not quite so magnificent; and as grim a dungeon as ever knave
or honest man was confined in, is in some danger of being
humbled into a wine-cellar. It is almost impossible to draw your
breath, when you recollect that this, so many feet under-ground,
and totally bereft of air and light, was built for the imprisonment
of human beings, whether guilty, suspected, or merely
unfortunate. Certainly, if our frames are not so hardy, our hearts
are softer than those of our forefathers, although probably a few
years of domestic war, or feudal oppression, would bring us back
to the same case-hardening both in body and sentiment.

I meant to have gone to Rokeby, but was prevented by Mrs.

Morritt being unwell, which I very much regret, as I know few
people that deserve better health. I am very glad you have
known them, and I pray you to keep up the acquaintance in
winter. I am glad to see by this day's paper that our friend Terry
has made a favorable impression on his first appearance at
Covent Garden—he has got a very good engagement there for
three years, at twelve guineas a week, which is a handsome
income.—This little place comes on as fast as can be reasonably
hoped; and the pinasters are all above the ground, but cannot be
planted out for twelve months. My kindest compliments—in
which Mrs. Scott always joins—attend Miss Agnes, the Doctor,
and his family. Ever, my dear friend, yours most faithfully,

Walter Scott.

TO DANIEL TERRY, ESQ., LONDON.

Abbotsford, 20th October, 1813.

Dear Terry,—You will easily believe that I was greatly pleased

to hear from you. I had already learned from The Courier (what I
had anticipated too strongly to doubt for one instant) your
favorable impression on the London public. I think nothing can
be more judicious in the managers than to exercise the various
powers you possess, in their various extents. A man of genius is
apt to be limited to one single style, and to become perforce a
mannerist, merely because the public is not so just to its own
amusement as to give him an opportunity of throwing himself
into different lines; and doubtless the exercise of our talents in
one unvaried course, by degrees renders them incapable of any
other, as the over-use of any one limb of our body gradually
impoverishes the rest. I shall be anxious to hear that you have
played Malvolio, which is, I think, one of your coups-de-maître,
and in which envy itself cannot affect to trace an imitation. That
same charge of imitation, by the way, is one of the surest scents
upon which dunces are certain to open. Undoubtedly, if the same
character is well performed by two individuals, their acting must
bear a general resemblance—it could not be well performed by
both were it otherwise. But this general resemblance, which
arises from both following nature and their author, can as little be
termed imitation as the river in Wales can be identified with that
of Macedon. Never mind these dunderheads, but go on your own
way, and scorn to laugh on the right side of your mouth, to make
a difference from some ancient comedian who, in the same part,
always laughed on the left. Stick to the public—be uniform in
your exertions to study even those characters which have little in
them, and to give a grace which you cannot find in the author.
Audiences are always grateful for this—or rather—for gratitude is
as much out of the question in the theatre, as Bernadotte says to
Boney it is amongst sovereigns—or rather, the audience is
gratified by receiving pleasure from a part which they had no
expectation would afford them any. It is in this view that, had I
been of your profession, and possessed talents, I think I should
have liked often those parts with which my brethren quarrelled,
and studied to give them an effect which their intrinsic merit did
not entitle them to. I have some thoughts of being in town in
spring (not resolutions by any means); and it will be an
additional motive to witness your success, and to find you as
comfortably established as your friends in Castle Street earnestly
hope and trust you will be.

The summer—an uncommon summer in beauty and serenity—

has glided away from us at Abbotsford, amidst our usual petty
cares and petty pleasures. The children's garden is in apple-pie
order, our own completely cropped and stocked, and all the trees
flourishing like the green bay of the Psalmist. I have been so
busy about our domestic arrangements, that I have not killed six
hares this season. Besides, I have got a cargo of old armor,
sufficient to excite a suspicion that I intend to mount a squadron
of cuirassiers. I only want a place for my armory; and, thank
God, I can wait for that, these being no times for building. And
this brings me to the loss of poor Stark, with whom more genius
has died than is left behind among the collected universality of
Scottish architects. O Lord!—but what does it signify?—Earth was
born to bear, and man to pay (that is, lords, nabobs, Glasgow
traders, and those who have wherewithal)—so wherefore
grumble at great castles and cottages, with which the taste of
the latter contrives to load the back of Mother Terra?—I have no
hobbyhorsical commissions at present, unless if you meet the
Voyages of Captain Richard, or Robert Falconer, in one volume
—"cow-heel, quoth Sancho"—I mark them for my own. Mrs.
Scott, Sophia, Anne, and the boys, unite in kind remembrances.
Ever yours truly,

W. Scott.

TO THE RIGHT HON. LORD BYRON, 4 BENNET STREET, ST.

JAMES'S, LONDON.

Abbotsford, 6th November, 1813.

My dear Lord,—I was honored with your Lordship's letter of the

27th September,[39] and have sincerely to regret that there is
such a prospect of your leaving Britain, without my achieving
your personal acquaintance. I heartily wish your Lordship had
come down to Scotland this season, for I have never seen a finer,
and you might have renewed all your old associations with
Caledonia, and made such new ones as were likely to suit you. I
dare promise you would have liked me well enough—for I have
many properties of a Turk—never trouble myself about futurity—
am as lazy as the day is long—delight in collecting silver-
mounted pistols and ataghans, and go out of my own road for no
one—all which I take to be attributes of your good Moslem.
Moreover, I am somewhat an admirer of royalty, and in order to
maintain this part of my creed, I shall take care never to be
connected with a court, but stick to the ignotum pro mirabili.

The author of The Queen's Wake will be delighted with your

approbation. He is a wonderful creature for his opportunities,
which were far inferior to those of the generality of Scottish
peasants. Burns, for instance—(not that their extent of talents is
to be compared for an instant)—had an education not much
worse than the sons of many gentlemen in Scotland. But poor
Hogg literally could neither read nor write till a very late period of
his life; and when he first distinguished himself by his poetical
talent, could neither spell nor write grammar. When I first knew
him, he used to send me his poetry, and was both indignant and
horrified when I pointed out to him parallel passages in authors
whom he had never read, but whom all the world would have
sworn he had copied. An evil fate has hitherto attended him, and
baffled every attempt that has been made to place him in a road
to independence. But I trust he may be more fortunate in future.

I have not yet seen Southey in the Gazette as Laureate. He is

a real poet, such as we read of in former times, with every atom
of his soul and every moment of his time dedicated to literary
pursuits, in which he differs from almost all those who have
divided public attention with him. Your Lordship's habits of
society, for example, and my own professional and official
avocations, must necessarily connect us much more with our
respective classes in the usual routine of pleasure or business,
than if we had not any other employment than vacare musis. But
Southey's ideas are all poetical, and his whole soul dedicated to
the pursuit of literature. In this respect, as well as in many
others, he is a most striking and interesting character.

I am very much interested in all that concerns your Giaour,

which is universally approved of among our mountains. I have
heard no objection except by one or two geniuses, who run over
poetry as a cat does over a harpsichord, and they affect to
complain of obscurity. On the contrary, I hold every real lover of
the art is obliged to you for condensing the narrative, by giving
us only those striking scenes which you have shown to be so
susceptible of poetic ornament, and leaving to imagination the
says I's and says he's, and all the minutiæ of detail which might
be proper in giving evidence before a court of justice. The truth
is, I think poetry is most striking when the mirror can be held up
to the reader, and the same kept constantly before his eyes; it
requires most uncommon powers to support a direct and
downright narration; nor can I remember many instances of its
being successfully maintained even by our greatest bards.

As to those who have done me the honor to take my

rhapsodies for their model, I can only say they have exemplified
the ancient adage, "One fool makes many;" nor do I think I have
yet had much reason to suppose I have given rise to anything of
distinguished merit. The worst is, it draws on me letters and
commendatory verses, to which my sad and sober thanks in
humble prose are deemed a most unmeet and ungracious reply.
Of this sort of plague your Lordship must ere now have had more
than your share, but I think you can hardly have met with so
original a request as concluded the letter of a bard I this morning
received, who limited his demands to being placed in his due
station on Parnassus—and invested with a post in the Edinburgh
Custom House.

What an awakening of dry bones seems to be taking place on

the Continent! I could as soon have believed in the resurrection
of the Romans as in that of the Prussians—yet it seems a real
and active renovation of national spirit. It will certainly be
strange enough if that tremendous pitcher, which has travelled to
so many fountains, should be at length broken on the banks of
the Saale; but from the highest to the lowest we are the fools of
fortune. Your Lordship will probably recollect where the Oriental
tale occurs, of a Sultan who consulted Solomon on the proper
inscription for a signet-ring, requiring that the maxim which it
conveyed should be at once proper for moderating the
presumption of prosperity and tempering the pressure of
adversity. The apophthegm supplied by the Jewish sage was, I
think, admirably adapted for both purposes, being comprehended
in the words, "And this also shall pass away."

When your Lordship sees Rogers, will you remember me kindly

to him? I hope to be in London next spring, and renew my
acquaintance with my friends there. It will be an additional
motive if I could flatter myself that your Lordship's stay in the
country will permit me the pleasure of waiting upon you. I am,
with much respect and regard, your Lordship's truly honored and
obliged humble servant,

Walter Scott.

I go to Edinburgh next week, multum gemens.

TO MISS JOANNA BAILLIE, HAMPSTEAD.

Edinburgh, 10th December, 1813.

Many thanks, my dear friend, for your kind token of

remembrance, which I yesterday received. I ought to blush, if I
had grace enough left, at my long and ungenerous silence: but
what shall I say? The habit of procrastination, which had always
more or less a dominion over me, does not relax its sway as I
grow older and less willing to take up the pen. I have not written
to dear Ellis this age,—yet there is not a day that I do not think
of you and him, and one or two other friends in your southern
land. I am very glad the whiskey came safe: do not stint so
laudable an admiration for the liquor of Caledonia, for I have
plenty of right good and sound Highland Ferintosh, and I can
always find an opportunity of sending you up a bottle.
 We are here almost mad with the redemption of Holland,
which has an instant and gratifying effect on the trade of Leith,
and indeed all along the east coast of Scotland. About £100,000
worth of various commodities, which had been dormant in cellars
and warehouses, was sold the first day the news arrived, and
Orange ribbons and Orange Boven was the order of the day
among all ranks. It is a most miraculous revivification which it
has been our fate to witness. Though of a tolerably sanguine
temper, I had fairly adjourned all hopes and expectations of the
kind till another generation: the same power, however, that
opened the windows of heaven and the fountains of the great
deep has been pleased to close them, and to cause his wind to
blow upon the face of the waters, so that we may look out from
the ark of our preservation, and behold the reappearance of the
mountain crests, and old, beloved, and well-known land-marks,
which we had deemed swallowed up forever in the abyss: the
dove with the olive branch would complete the simile, but of that
I see little hope. Buonaparte is that desperate gambler, who will
not rise while he has a stake left; and, indeed, to be King of
France would be a poor pettifogging enterprise, after having
been almost Emperor of the World. I think he will drive things on,
till the fickle and impatient people over whom he rules get tired
of him and shake him out of the saddle. Some circumstances
seem to intimate his having become jealous of the Senate; and
indeed anything like a representative body, however imperfectly
constructed, becomes dangerous to a tottering tyranny. The
sword displayed on both frontiers may, like that brandished
across the road of Balaam, terrify even dumb and irrational
subjection into utterance;—but enough of politics, though now a
more cheerful subject than they have been for many years past.

I have had a strong temptation to go to the Continent this

Christmas; and should certainly have done so, had I been sure of
getting from Amsterdam to Frankfort, where, as I know Lord
Aberdeen and Lord Cathcart, I might expect a welcome. But
notwithstanding my earnest desire to see the allied armies cross
the Rhine, which I suppose must be one of the grandest military
spectacles in the world, I should like to know that the roads were
tolerably secure, and the means of getting forward attainable. In
spring, however, if no unfortunate change takes place, I trust to
visit the camp of the allies, and see all the pomp and power and
circumstance of war, which I have so often imagined, and
sometimes attempted to embody in verse.—Johnnie Richardson is
a good, honorable, kind-hearted little fellow as lives in the world,
with a pretty taste for poetry, which he has wisely kept under
subjection to the occupation of drawing briefs and revising
conveyances. It is a great good fortune to him to be in your
neighborhood, as he is an idolater of genius, and where could he
offer up his worship so justly? And I am sure you will like him, for
he is really "officious, innocent, sincere."[40] Terry, I hope, will get
on well; he is industrious, and zealous for the honor of his art.
Ventidius must have been an excellent part for him, hovering
between tragedy and comedy, which is precisely what will suit
him. We have a woeful want of him here, both in public and
private, for he was one of the most easy and quiet chimney-
corner companions that I have had for these two or three years
past.

I am very glad if anything I have written to you could give

pleasure to Miss Edgeworth, though I am sure it will fall very
short of the respect which I have for her brilliant talents. I always
write to you à la volée, and trust implicitly to your kindness and
judgment upon all occasions where you may choose to
communicate any part of my letters.[41] As to the taxing men, I
must battle them as I can: they are worse than the great
Emathian conqueror, who

"bade spare
The house of Pindarus, when temple and tower
Went to the ground."[42]
 Your pinasters are coming up gallantly in the nursery-bed at
Abbotsford. I trust to pay the whole establishment a Christmas
visit, which will be, as Robinson Crusoe says of his glass of rum,
"to mine exceeding refreshment." All Edinburgh have been on
tiptoe to see Madame de Staël, but she is now not likely to honor
us with a visit, at which I cannot prevail on myself to be very
sorry; for as I tired of some of her works, I am afraid I should
disgrace my taste by tiring of the authoress too. All my little
people are very well, learning, with great pain and diligence,
much which they will have forgotten altogether, or nearly so, in
the course of twelve years hence: but the habit of learning is
something in itself, even when the lessons are forgotten.

I must not omit to tell you that a friend of mine, with whom
that metal is more plenty than with me, has given me some gold
mohurs to be converted into a ring for enchasing King Charles's
hair; but this is not to be done until I get to London, and get a
very handsome pattern. Ever, most truly and sincerely, yours,

W. Scott.

The last sentence of this letter refers to a lock of the hair of

Charles I., which, at Dr. Baillie's request, Sir Henry Halford had
transmitted to Scott when the royal martyr's remains were
discovered at Windsor, in April, 1813.[43] Sir John Malcolm had given
him some Indian coins to supply virgin gold for the setting of this
relic; and for some years he constantly wore the ring, which is a
massive and beautiful one, with the word Remember surrounding it in
highly relieved black-letter.

The poet's allusion to "taxing men" may require another word of

explanation. To add to his troubles during this autumn of 1813, a
demand was made on him by the commissioners of the income-tax,
to return in one of their schedules an account of the profits of his
literary exertions during the last three years. He demurred to this,
and took the opinion of high authorities in Scotland, who confirmed
him in his impression that the claim was beyond the statute. The
grounds of his resistance are thus briefly stated in one of his letters
to his legal friend in London:—

TO JOHN RICHARDSON, ESQ., FLUDYER STREET,

WESTMINSTER.

My dear Richardson,—I have owed you a letter this long time,

but perhaps my debt might not yet be discharged, had I not a
little matter of business to trouble you with. I wish you to lay
before either the King's counsel, or Sir Samuel Romilly and any
other you may approve, the point whether a copyright being sold
for the term during which Queen Anne's act warranted the
property to the author, the price is liable in payment of the
property-tax. I contend it is not so liable, for the following
reasons: 1st, It is a patent right, expected to produce an annual,
or at least an incidental profit, during the currency of many
years; and surely it was never contended that if a man sold a
theatrical patent, or a patent for machinery, property-tax should
be levied in the first place on the full price as paid to the seller,
and then on the profits as purchased by the buyer. I am not very
expert at figures, but I think it clear that a double taxation takes
place. 2d, It should be considered that a book may be the work
not of one year, but of a man's whole life; and as it has been
found, in a late case of the Duke of Gordon, that a fall of timber
was not subject to property-tax because it comprehended the
produce of thirty years, it seems at least equally fair that mental
exertions should not be subjected to a harder principle of
measurement. 3d, The demand is, so far as I can learn, totally
new and unheard of. 4th, Supposing that I died and left my
manuscripts to be sold publicly along with the rest of my library,
is there any ground for taxing what might be received for the
written book, any more than any rare printed book, which a
speculative bookseller might purchase with a view to
republication? You will know whether any of these things ought
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