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Subject Area: Political Theory
Subject Area: Law

Bentham to J. Mulford. - Jeremy Bentham, The Works of Jeremy Bentham, vol. 10 (Memoirs Part I and Correspondence) [1843]

Edition used:

The Works of Jeremy Bentham, published under the Superintendence of his Executor, John Bowring (Edinburgh: William Tait, 1838-1843). 11 vols. Vol. 10.

Part of: The Works of Jeremy Bentham, 11 vols.

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Bentham to J. Mulford.

“24th April, 1810.

“As to Lord Holland, saving your presence, Doctor, you misconceived me—Oh, no! that is not polite. I am glad I did not say so—I mean—I must have misexpressed myself. Lord Holland never has been in Mexico; in Spain, indeed, he was till lately, and from thence sent me those letters which you saw. The man who has been in Mexico, is not a lord, only an honourable; Cochrane Johnson, my next door neighbour and tenant; one of the uncles of the Lord Cochrane, Member for Westminster, whom, if you ever read papers, you are so continually reading of in the papers. Twitting me with what you acknowledge to be but a half promise, you call upon me for stories;—after Lord H., I should not be afraid of telling stories; but after my tenant, I am, a little. What say you to a shrub or tree, about the stature of a lilac, covered from top to toe with flowers, in form like a Canterbury bell, in size as big as a quart bottle, (he would not bate a hair’s breadth,) in odour strong and delicious, in colour of the purest white, giving to the whole tree, when in blossom, the appearance (to an eye at a certain distance) of a mount of snow? This (he says) is among the weeds that grow there, and floripundia is its name. If circumstances would not admit of bringing growing plants or cuttings, why not bring seeds at least? whys, more might be put in plenty. Plants or cuttings, he indeed professes to expect—but with other expected things in abundance, what those who know him, fear much will never come. A plant, with flowers about the size of those of a honeysuckle, and growing in a manner not unlike to one, but in each stalk, exactly in number and shape, like a thumb and four fingers. This I myself saw, he having imported a specimen, preserved in a bottle with spirits. Also, besides snakes, lizards, and other such vermin, specimens of the stones, and the woods of the country, cut in squares. Item, a sort of painting in oil, say, about fifteen inches by ten, and not ill executed, exhibiting the inhabitants, as they exhibit themselves, in all the varieties that result from the intercopulation of European Spaniards, American Indians, and African negroes. Moreover, a most magnificent, recently published, map of Mexico the capital—number of inhabitants about 200,000—the first that ever came to Britain; another copy I have a promise of, but I will sell it you at a cheap rate.

“But alas! the paper will hold no more.”