plainly proves. Why then did he not obtain, or, at the least, solicit it? "When he did determine on the publication, Mr. B." he tells us, was, to the best of his knowledge, residing two hundred miles from London." And what then? we ask; was there no post to convey a letter to him, and in four or five days to bring back his assent to, or dissent from, the proposed publication of his history? Unquestionably there must have been; and his not having availed himself of this ordinary mode of communication between friends separated by distance, forces upon our minds the unwelcome and painful suspicion, that at this period Mr. Reed and Mr. Barnett could not have been on terms of cordiality, or even of intimacy; in which case nothing could justify the publication of "No Fiction" at such a time. Respecting Mr. Reed, however, highly as we do, it will afford us great satisfaction to learn, that our suspiIcions are without foundation, and to be furnished with a more satisfactory elucidation of a mystery which we are unable otherwise to solve.

His third plea is, that being disappointed in obtaining a conference with his friend, his determination to print was not formed till "he had distinctly taken the opinion of friends of discreet and matured judgment on the question, Whether there was any delicacy in submitting a body of facts so concealed, to the public eye." "The opinion," he adds, "of course was, in each case, such as authorized the step I afterwards took." That it was so, we cannot for a moment doubt, when Mr. Reed so unequivocally asserts the fact; but that it should be so, we can never cease to marvel, provided (which, from our unfeigned respect for Mr. Reed, we predicate to have been the fact) the case was fairly stated to them. If it was, let them never set up for teachers in Israel, "of discreet and matured judgment," who did not counsel him, that the publication he contemplated was in the highest degree indiscreet and indelicate, unless he had Mr. Barnett's permission for it, which might and ought to be applied for by the very next post.

Mr. Reed concludes this branch of his defence, by saying to the Reviewer, to whom he addresses it, "Prudence, perhaps, Sir, could do little more than this:" to which we answer, It could do, and ought to have done, a great deal more, and we need not recapitulate in what; satisfied as we are, that most men of correct feeling will be of opinion with us, that the publication of information with respect to another, obtained in the course of an intimate friendship,

without his express permission, even where the facts stated are preeminently and unequivocally honourable to his character, is a breach of confidence altogether incautious, injudicious, and unwarrantable. We have spoken strongly on this point, much more so indeed than our regard for Mr. Reed would have permitted us to do, but in the faithful discharge of a public duty, in which we know neither friend nor foe. But that his error was a mere error of judgment, we are as fully convinced, as we are of that error having been committed; and hence we as unreservedly acquit him of the slightest intention of injuring any one, still less a friend for whom he has done so much.

This naturally brings us to the second part of the charge; the injury inflicted upon Mr. Barnett, and the blame attaching itself to Mr. Reed for that infliction.-And first, we would inquire what is the injury done? We admit, at the outset, that every person has a just ground of complaint, whose private history is laid open to the public, either by friend or foe, without his permission first had and obtained for such a disclosure; and a fortiori has he so, where that disclosure is made in violation of the confidence of friendship. That Mr. Barnett might, therefore, very reasonably complain of this publication, few unprejudiced persons can, we apprehend, be disposed to question; but on the other hand, he alone can determine whether his feelings or interests have been so affected, as to give him any ground of complaint for a real injury sustained. The act done was, as we contend, unjustifiable by the individual who did it; but it does not, therefore, follow that it was injurious to any one; whilst, by assenting to it afterwards, the party who might otherwise most justly have complained of it, in as far as he was concerned, supplied the deficiency of a previous application for his permission; and, as against himself, put the thing upon precisely the same footing as though he, by his consent, had originally been a party to the publication; leaving, however, the other party still open to the charge of indelicacy and precipitancy, in proceeding without that assent. This, then, we conceive to be precisely the situation in which Mr. Reed and Mr. Barnett stand. The former has precipitately and incautiously done that, which, as a minister of the gospel, and a gentleman, he ought not to have done; but the latter has deprived himself of the right of complaining of this misconduct, in that he deliberately and advisedly sanctioned the measure the moment he was aware of its adoption. That he did so,

fully and unreservedly, admits not of a moment's doubt; for he notoriously introduced himself, and suffered himself to be introduced, into circles in which he had not previously moved, as the Lefevre of No Fiction; conceiving, and we still think, not erroneously conceiving, that the character was on the whole more, honourable to him than disadvantageous. Long, therefore, after the appearance of the work, and his own adoption of the principal character in it, he lived on terms of renewed intimacy with the friend by whom that character was sketched, and himself widely circulated the key to it, which he and the author alone possessed, so completely, as to apply all its characters and events to the real history of their intercourse. During the whole of this period, and it was not a short one, it is self-evident, therefore, that he never dreamt of an injury having been done him by the publication, but, on the contrary, uniformly considered it a benefit; and even had he subsequently discovered that this impression upon the subject had been erroneous, he could have no more right to complain of the publication, than he would have had in the event of his permission having been previously and properly obtained; for, as we have already intimated, his subsequent, deliberate, and long-continued assent, was, at the very least, fully tantamount to a previous free consent; and if the latter, he must necessarily have taken, without murmuring, all the consequences. The evidence in this case not only negatives the infliction of any injury upon Mr. Barnett by the publication, but proves that, on the contrary, it was highly advantageous to him; although, we regret to add, that his own subsequent misconduct has rendered that advantage unavailing. It is well known, we doubt not, to many of our readers, that subsequent to the publication in question, and his own ready adoption of the leading character in it, this gentleman obtained a situation in the London Orphan Asylum, of which his friend Mr. Reed has long been the very active secretary. How that situation was obtained, and lost, it is but justice to the latter gentleman to permit him to state at length.

"Another head of injury to which your reviewer refers, is connected with Mr. B.'s introduction to the London Orphan Asylum, and which he thus expresses:

"When he offered himself as a candidate for the office of assistant-secretary, it was objected to him, that he was the hero of No Fiction; that he had so misconducted himself in the Postoffice, that he was in danger of dismissal; that he had embez

zled the money of his employers, and that in all respects he was a most immoral character.'

"Now, it is necessary for me to meet this statement with the plain and bold assertion, that it is false, and, as I shall shew, most ungenerously false.

"When the situation in question became vacant, Mr. Barnett applied for my advice in offering himself for it.' It would,' he said, 'take him from his brother's, where he was exposed to temptation-it would restore him to his best connexions—it would be all he desired.'

"I apprized him, that the ground was already occupied by a very eligible candidate that I had no doubt, if he ventured to compete with him, all his former life would be inquired into, and brought forward-that I thought, with steadiness of conduct, he would be the more suitable of the two candidates-and that, with this conviction, waving my own feelings, I should regard myself bound to forward the object to the utmost, should he continue to think it so desirable. I begged him to take time to consider it; and having done so, he resolved to face whatever difficulties might arise, and become a candidate. I immediately did what I have not done before or since, I wrote separately in his behalf to the members of the Board, and gave him every assistance in his own personal canvass.

"The night of election came. A gentleman who supported the other candidate, from his knowledge of his excellent character, but who did not know that such a book as No Fiction was in existence, stated he had heard, (it was the common report when Mr. B. eloped,) that he had been very unsteady, that he had left his duty and his country, and that he had even embezzled money to a large amount belonging to the Post-office. Another gentleman, to whom Mr. B. had introduced himself indiscreetly as the Lefevre of No Fiction, took occasion to say, there might possibly be some ground for a part of such reports, as he had been given to understand, from good authority, that there were some allusions to him in an anonymous work he had lately seen.

"I was, of course, the only person who could meet these charges, and vindicate his character. I maintained, without knowing of Mr. B.'s admissions, that no one was authorized in concluding any thing for or against a living individual, from the work referred to; and that, in relation to the reports which had been named, they were partly true, and partly false. I allowed that there had been some irregularities: but I insisted, that the report of dishonesty and embezzlement was wholly unfounded; that I could prove this by testimonials, which I read; that I was willing to be one of his sureties to any amount; and that I sincerely believed he deeply regretted whatever might have been amiss in his past conduct.

"The effect of this statement was, that Mr. B. was allowed to go to the ballot immediately and unanimously; and the issue of the

election was his final appointment, notwithstanding his antagonists had no weak points of conduct to be exposed, and had made considerable interest before he began; and the situation to which he was thus appointed, was worth nearly double that of any one he had ever possessed!

"Now, sir, what is the state of the case here? Mr. B. after forsaking his connexions, seeks once more to be comfortably settled; his reported irregularities are, as was expected, brought forward by a person who had not seen No Fiction, mixed, as they are sure to be, with great exaggerations. His friend stands up alone, and meets all the heat of feeling which an election to a valuable place commonly generates, and earnestly vindicates conduct, which it was difficult entirely to elucidate. This vindication is so successful, that he is admitted, without even a motion to the contrary, to go to the ballot, and is elected to a situation better every way, than any one he had possessed in his best days. More than this; this situation he would most certainly have lost, had it not been for the favourable impressions produced on the minds of many who voted, by his having announced himself, or been announced by others, as the Lefevre of No Fiction!

"This situation Mr. B. might have held to the present hour, with the greatest comfort and respectability; and painful as it may be, I am perhaps bound to throw some light on the circumstances attending his removal from it, as some strange and heavy insinuations have been made respecting it, and your reviewer seems anxious to receive them. The effort has been to cast the blame of losing an excellent appointment on me; and that blame I ought not to endure.

"For some months after the election, Mr. B. performed the duties of his office admirably, and cheerfully rendered me all the relief in his power; and so long as this was the case, he felt himself useful and happy. Afterwards he allowed himself indulgences unfavourable to health, and ultimately fell into a state of mental derangement.

"I was the first person he called for. I saw him; every attention, medical and otherwise, was given to him; his state was treated with the greatest tenderness and delicacy; I attended in his place, and discharged all his duties till he recovered, that no one might complain; and when he did recover, and I was made aware, by those who lived with him, of the causes of this distressing affliction, I wrote an affectionate and faithful letter to him. He acknowledged it with tears of gratitude, and assured me, that he would do honour to whatever my friendship had led me to say in his favour.

"For about three months he kept to his resolutions, and assisted greatly to promote the interests of the Charity. Then he relapsed into a similar state; and it became necessary for him to send in his resignation. That resignation was accepted without