works
Allow me to anticipate the pleasant intelligence which I shall soon hope to
receive, and to be beforehand in my cordial, affectionate and warm congratulations
on an event which involves your own happiness and that of your
amiable bride. I earnestly pray that this union while it
will, I trust, partly tend to soften the cares and alleviate the solicitudes of your
very anxious and laborious life, may also multiply your spiritual blessings. The
piety of your fair companion you have chosen gives me a comfortable hope that
marriage in your case, so far from dangerously entangling you more and more in the
cares of this fashionable world, may, on the contrary, help to speed you in the race
of glory and honour and immortality. As I conceive you both to have warm and
affectionate tempers, your difficulty and danger may probably arise from those very
qualities which will at the same time so essentially contribute to your hap/piness/
if wisely used. I conceive of your both therefore as being, in turn, called upon to
act the part of Swift’s Flapper, and of occasionally
reminding each other that this is not your rest. But on the other hand
what a delightful consideration is it for two married persons, who are true
Christians to be able to say even in their happiest days, “this is not our happiest
state, but thro the tender mercies of Our God, and the merits of our Redeemer, we
have a future blessedness to look to, with which the highest pleasures of this
imperfect and transitory World are not worthy to be compared. What a joy to reflect
that the smallest Act of self-denial for God’s sake, the smallest renunciation of
our pleasure for his glory shall not lose its reward!”
I never so much as heard of Howe’s Treatise
on delighting in God – O give me a Book which will teach
me to do so! The very name gets one an Appetite, or rather makes
one long to get it. – Indeed I read little of Spiritual things, and of other things
scarcely one Word.
I am something like a gouty or intemperate General
Officer, I am either in my bed or in the Field; pain and Action pretty equally
divide my life between them, with some preponderance, however, I thank God on
the latter side, but reading and writing are things almost as much out of the
question with me as with the poor savages I live with, for if I am well enough
to be up I am well enough to be out, in a general way.
Charemile and
Lady
W.
&c tell me they never see or hear of
Mrs. W
– I am disgusted at her want of decency, to say
the least, in not concealing her satisfaction at quitting a place, so pleasant so
advantageous /so congenial/ to
her
husband
.7 The change must be an immense expence.
W. and I have had a good deal of intercourse a few weeks
ago about
Mr. T.’s
health – We agreed in thinking, that more relaxaxation [sic]
from business without travelling about, and renouncing the comforts and
accommodations of his
pleasant home, was the best thing
for him at this time of year.
I hope he does relax and
that you will soon if the Spring shoud ever begin, get to
Battersea for your sake especially. – Shoud
You see
Charemile will you tell tell her that
I will write to her on her kind proposal
soon,
and that we are soon looking out for the Barrister
the Circuit being nearly over.8 I agree with you in wondering that your
agreeable Nephew coud overlook that agreeable girl and chuse
one so inferior both in mind and person.9 How can you read
Godwin by way of learning to do good? An avow’d Atheist?
An acquaintance of mine,
Miss Lee woud have
married him she said had he been only an Infidel, but he denied a first course.10
To
me his writings are the blackness of darkness. Hume by his elegance, and Voltaire
by
his wit and the charms of his style are seducing. But tell
Mr. T. if he reads it, not to let others read it, for I remember at
Xt Church
Miss Creswell and
Miss
Schim
were frightened at his reading Hume’s Essays to
them11 They were not then so strong in Religion as they are since become.
Seriously I think Plays and Novels safe reading compared with books
of subtel sophistry and promiscuous reasoning – I dont mean that you may not pack
/up/ up good things in them. I have not yet read the C. O.12 but have
run over Ingram13 which is very good, the second part I thought
leaned a
little more to Calvinism than I do, that is I thought it woud
give the C. O. a rather more Calvinistic Air than it has lately
assumed
I am glad the C. O. takes up the
Bp of Saint David’s Plan14 – I have been in constant correspondence
(when able) [wi]th [tear] this good Bp on the Subject ever [s]ince [tear] he planned
it. It is to raise the character morals, learning & piety of the Welch Clergy. I
hardly know so pressing a cause. There will unavoidably, to save his credit be mixd
with it a little too much
High Church but we must be glad to do something if we cannot do
all that is wanted. I subscribe and propose leaving a legacy to the St.
David’s Plan. The building a sort of Welch College was partly my Suggestion.
–
I know a lady just returned who says the English had raised the price of Cambric
there from half a crown to 7:6 a Yard, while our own looms are standing still –
I must say with Hamlet – ‘It cannot nor it will not come to
good’, and that /war/ was not worse than such a peace – Especially if our
dear Africans are rescued. – I hear of a book of
Mr. Wilberforce
to the French? What is it
about? and
how is his health.
Two days ago
Lady Elgin* spent the day with us.
I knew nothing of her before. She is a sensible woman, and seems desirous of improving
in religion of which she has a good deal of knowledge. She has it seems been a most
kind Mother to
Lord Bruce, the son of her unworthy Predecessor.* Dr.
Chalmers wrote me
a very favourable account of this lady. By the way I have not yet seen Chalmers’ Sermons* of which I hear a high report.
I am going to do a most impudent thing. But if you will, by your generosity, spoil people you must abide the consequences. Your Ladyship
gave me 4 Volumes of Clarke’s Travels, which I have had handsomely bound. I hear there is a fifth. Perhaps you will have
the goodness to compleat my set
* – Any time will do, for at present I have little time for reader – and now I will
proceed to tell you why
Allow me to offer You
a plain and simple, but sincere and cordial assurance of my gratitude for the
great honour you have done me, and the great gratification you have given me, by
your elegant and beautiful Poem*. Tho I feel myself, (and
there is no affectation in declaring it) very unworthy of the kind and flattering
things it contains, yet I feel a considerable addition of pleasure in perusing it,
from the idea that it is your approbation of the serious Spirit in the little work*
which you are so good to commend which disposes You to overlook any defects in the
composition;
defects multiplied by bad health which
indisposes, and partly incapacitates me from correcting coolly, tho it does not
yet always prevent me from writing rapidly, and therefore I fear,
carelessly.
I have had /great/ pleasure in shewing your fine Verses to one of the nearest
survivi[ng] [tear] relations of Cowper,
the
daughter
of the pious
Major and
Mrs. Cowper
to whom his more devout
letters are addressed.* They have also afforded a great treat to the excellent
Mr. Gisborne
with whom I am now on
a visit. I need not tell You he is the Author of some of our best Modern
Sermons*; of two valuable treatises on the ‘Duties of Man
/&/ duties of women’*; and his ‘Walks in a Forest*
enable him to appreciate
Mr. Hayley
as
a Poet.
Hatchard is about to publish a little Book by a
worthy friend of Mine, entitled ‘a Father’s Letters to his Children’*; I beg to recommend it to you as sound and deeply serious.
I had almost forgot to say that ‘Christian
Morals’ was sent to
Bruton
St.
ten days ago. There are sad typographical errors; of which I sent a
list, but the Printer would not stay to insert it, a new Edition having been called
for,
on the day this came out of the Press. I shall get into sad disgrace about it.
Lord Gambier sent a kind Note with your letter, as this is
single I will not trouble him with this. If
Mr. T.
Cunningham
is with You I beg to be kindly remembered to him. – How go on
your polemical Neighbours. You are really odly situated
I this moment receive your too kind letter, and tho it is late, and tho it is not
a
writing day,* and
tho
I have been
so unusually ill the whole week
,
I could not sleep if I
did not send you a line. I cannot express the vexation the mortification, I feel
at your not having got the book
from me.
* I
directed not
Hatchard, but
Cadell the Publisher
who is always the dispenser of presents because they are sent a few
days before publication to send one the very first hour to
Bruton Street – and you have not had it
– I should have ordered it to
Huntingdon
with the Bishop's but you my dearest Lady preferred your town House. Such a
thing ought not to vex me so much as it does. If you do not find it
in Bruton Street – which you will be charitable enough to tell me, I will order
Hatchard
/Cadell/ to send you the very first of the 2d. Edition,
which as the delay has been already so great will I hope put you in possession
of a more correct copy. Believe me, it is not that I overrate the Book, by
laying so much stress on this disappointment, but that I cannot bear the
suspicion of neglect, where both my affections, my esteem and my gratitude are
equally concerned.
I am going once more with great delight thro'
Leighton's Commentary on St.
Peter.* Yet sweet, devout, and spiritual as it is, I am
not sure whether I do not prefer his Volume of Sermons.* I could have spared some of his other things if he had
given us the rich legacy of another Volume of /the/ Sermons.
My most affectionate remembrances to
your young
companion
. I desire her not to forget me.
I do not know if she has
ever read Baron
Haller's letters to his daughter which
I shall take the liberty to inclose when I return your Reviews.
*
I also wish not to delay giving the opinion you have the goodness to ask respecting
your endeavouring to get
Mrs. S ––s
. I
will speak frankly. As the thing appears to me, I think you had better not – There
are several reasons against it, in my judgment. I ought not to notice that she is
/tho sensible/ , rather a heavy companion, as an inmate because, if we
could be of use to her, that should never be put into the scale – but I feel if we
did not turn the time to a religious account, it would be of no benefit
– if we did, she might be apt to suspect us of a stratagem Then I am a
little jealous for your fame. As people would not know your pure, pious motive, one
of two reports would possibly prevail, or perhaps both; those who suspect you of
Saint hunting would be likely to accuse you of Saint
making, and a malignant laugh would be cheaply raised; on the other
hand those who are trying to sustain your worldly reputation – those who report in
the Morning Post* and other papers, what 'a splendid dinner' or 'fashionable
party' Lady O. Sparrow had such a night on
Bruton Street, would not fail to report that
Mrs. S –– was gone to B. Park to read Plays to a select circle of
Modish Friends. – My dear Lady O – these remarks
singly are frivolous but perhaps all together are not unworthy of
Notice – You must expect on your charge of habits to be narrowly watched, a
Providential hint perhaps for increased circumspection. Not with standing what I
have presumed to hazard I hope you will push the matter as far as prudence permits,
when you meet in town. Pray forgive all this freedom which proceeds from zeal for
the maintenance and extension of your very important influence.
I know not what to say to
D. Baillie for what I must call his
elegant kindness. Do you think he would take it rightly [if]
[tear] I sent him Christian
Morals*? – has he
[tear]ren? – they at least might read it –
If you think
it right, perhaps
you would have the goodness to order
Hatchard to get /ready/
a copy of the 4th. Edition elegantly bound, but not
to send it till I write to you again.
Take care of your health my dearest Lady – Remember that the
constant excitement of your sensibility, and the exertions of your mind, with
people of the right /stamp/ , is more wearing than the uninteresting
insipidity of the frivolous.
A thousand thanks for your kindness of all sorts to me, for remembering to write to
me as soon as you got home, and for your attention both to my body and Mind
in the
Soda Water* which came safe, and for
Dr. Clarke who is arrived but not
read.
I was thinking how I could get this Third Volume, your kindness having
furnished me with the two preceeding; and lo! like my attendant Sylph you
guessed at my wants and supplied them.*
I long to know how your
great day went off.
Mr. Boak
passed thro
Huntingdon at the time and heard of it far and near. I believe you
can do everything but mollify certain hard hearts and open certain eyes judiciously
blinded.
Thank dear
Millicent for the harmonious and very pleasant
Way-Verses. So
characteristic of the delightful writer!
By the way – when
[he] does he talk of accomplishing his plan at
Bristol? – If you have any intercourse with him be
sure put him in mind that he is pledged to
Barley
Wood
for a night or two –
Are you not delighted with the Velvet Cushion*? I am extremely pleased with it; I expect it will have a
great run. I was much amused at receiving an excessively pretty Epigram a high
compliment to myself from a Gentleman who supposed me to be the Author.*
Sir Thos. Acland who has been /here/ to take leave
previous to his departure for
Vienna told me
that others had done me the honour to ascribe it to me. The sentiments are certainly
in strict Unison with my own –
The Author kindly sent it to me
– Is his
name yet made public?
I will send you the Verses another time.
I have not heard from you of an age. Do give me a line to say when you go to
Town, that I may know where to
send Saint Paul to wait on you. The printing will be finished to morrow
I hope and it will probably be out in [deletion] ten days. I have sent your name to
Cadell to send Your copy; with that of your neighbour
Bishop to
Huntingdon, but if you are moving you woud perhaps like
it better to meet you in
Town. I am also going
to order [to]
Hatchard to send You the
new Edition of the Dramas with the Additional Scene in
Moses.*
Pray speak of this to your friends to prevent their
encouraging the pirated Editions – The genuine is only printed by Cadell and Davies.
Are you not pleased with
Mr.
Whalley
's little book? I am delighted, but not with the
Title
I hope you are still enjoying the profitable and very pleasant Society
[deletion].
He cribbed me sadly in the
time he bestowed on us.
If he has not left you be so
good to tell him that I received his valuable present of
Fenclon.*It was indeed paying me
for my Bristol Stones with Jewels of the first water.
Pray tell him also
that I was afraid, that thro the well meant folly of stupid
Bulgin he had not receved [sic] a copy both for
himself and
Mr. Le Touche
, but have at last the satisfaction to find
that he did.
I woud write to himself but from the fear that he has left you, and if
not this will save him the trouble of a letter
I hope to see him again. The
loss of such friends as we have lost makes us cling still closer to those of the same
class who remain to us – I am ready to exclaim with
Wilberforce in his last letter – Who next Lord?
Be sure let me know your opinion of the 2d. Vol of St.
Paul*, and discriminating which parts you like best.
Tho I sent you a few days ago a longer letter than I write to any
body else, yet I thought you would wish to hear from me on a Subject so
interesting to you.
The day after
Mr.
Hodson
got my letter he and
his pupil presented themselves in the morning and spent
the day here. With the latter I had only general intercourse, my chief
object with him being
to make myself as pleasant as my state of health
allowed
, and to remove any prejudice he might have entertained of
my being severe and dictatorial. While I sent him walking and talking with
young Gisborne, I took the Tutor into my room for a
couple of hours. I will as nearly as I can recollect, tell you our chief discourse.
His first endeavour has been /not/ to give him any disgust, but to gain his
affection. He finds him conformable and complying with his injunctions, but not in
habits of application, or much given to reading He is more anxious at first to bring
him to stated habits and a regular disposition of time than to force too much
reading upon him till he discovers more liking to it. At half past 8 he gives him,
I
think about a dozen verse of the Greek Testament to study and meditate
upon alone. At Nine he sets him to construe those passages to him and after
they have discussed the Greek in a literary and grammatical point of view, he then
expounds them to him spiritually and Theologically: then their devotions and a
little walk before breakfast. I suggested that as he is inclined to sit over his
Meals that a short thing, a medium sort of reading such as a paper in the
Rambler* might be
well taken up. His Mornings are at present engaged with Quintilion whom
they study /both/ separately and together. I ventured to give my opinion that as he
would fill a great station in the world, and was not much addicted to study it might
be well to endeavour to imbue his mind with general knowledge such as would
be useful in life, and to allure him to the perusal of history and Travels; to make
him learn a passage from the Orations of Demosthenes or Cicero, in the
Greek & Latin and then to translate and recite them in English, and to labour
after a good manner of recitation. Mr.
H. told me, and Mr. S. himself told
my
Sisters
that they had spent their time in the most trifling manner at
Harrow, and that very little was required
of them there. In consequence Mr. H says his habits of conversation are too
frivolous, horses &c &c being the favorite theme. Before evening prayer Mr. H. reads and again expounds Scripture. This he
says is all the formal religious instruction he gives, for he /is/
afraid to weary him, but he tries to make their walks, their common reading
instructive. I insisted much on the necessity & importance of this, knowing it
is the best way to mix up instruction with the common pursuits of life. They
sometimes dine and drink tea out, but as it is in correct and pious company, I
thought it better for his youth than to be confin’d to a tete a téte always with his
Tutor. The latter likes his young friend who has yet given him not the
slightest cause of complaint.
Conceiving that you will be glad to hear from time to time a word from me respecting
your Son,
I resolve to scribble a line, tho yesterday was a peculiarly bad day
.
Mr. Sparrow
his Tutor and
Mr. Hensman
spent a long day here lately.
I took Mr. H. as usual into my room; we had a very long discussion, and I required an explicit
account of their goings on, which he very minutely gave me. I have the satisfaction
of reporting that every thing seems very promising; if the improvements are not rapid
they are at least progressive. At my request he has begun to attempt composition.
He reads Watts’s Logic*and Mr. H. makes observations on their joint perusal both of that and whatever else they
read together. As the days lengthen he rises earlier which gives him more time for the Greek Testament before breakfast. He is translating some passages from Demosthenes* which will help to form his Style. I suggested that here after he should learn and
recite some fine passages in Burke’s Speeches.*
He reads by himself more than he did, and I lent for that purpose Plutarch’s Lives;* and
Travels thro Germany.* I have also presented sent him with
the Saint Paul of Barley Wood,* which he has promised to read; I told him that being written by one who had the honour
to be his Mother’s friend, it might interest him more. Mr. H. says that tho he cannot say he sees as yet any decided piety, yet he has great pleasure in seeing that he [has] not the slightest prejudice
against religion or religious people. This is /a/ great point for ‘a
Harrow fellow’.* But what I rejoyced at as the most gratifying circumstance, was that he told me he
possessed great purity of mind. This is a blessed thing at an age when boys have commonly
their minds tainted.
May God’s blessing preserve it to him! I think
Clifton a very fortunate situation for him. I think now he is getting a step towards manhood
he would hardly endure the dullness & total want of society of an obscure Village,
where he woud probably be too solitary, or led into inferior company. Now at Clifton
their little social intercourse is entirely among religious, and well mannered people,
and his Sunday’s Instruction sound and good. It was Providential for poor distressed
Hensman to get Hudson to fill at once the Niche so fortunately vacated by
Cowan,* or he might have forced himself into it again at his return. There appears to subsist
a pleasant affection and confidence between the Tutor and Pupil and Hensman says the
latter has easy access to his house where he often calls, and where he will get nothing but good. I have said so
much about this interesting youth that I have left myself no room for other Subjects.
I have just got a long letter from dear
Mary Gisborne replete with sorrow, affection and the deepest piety.
How stupid, in
Bowdler’s prejudiced bigoted
father* to obstruct the very desirable plans of
Ld. Calthorpe
and
Mr. Inglis
to write a Memoir of the dear departed! I have written to
Harriet Bowdler to try to soften her brother
Bartlett’s-Buildings heart.
*
Poor
Mrs. Thornton
I hear looks sadly, has a pain in her chest and drinks Asses Milk. I tremble for
her life.
Her letters rather increase in sadness, but it is a sanctified sadness. – I forgot
to say that Mr. H. and I agreed that nothing would so much contribute to give Mr. S. a habit of application as to give him a slight tincture of Fractions, and Algebra;
not to make him a Mathematician but to tie down his attention –
I know of no person likely to suit
Lady Gosford’s friend as a Governess
. You ask how I like W. Scott’s new Poem.* I have not seen it, but do not hear it thought equal to its predecessors.
A friend has sent me Eustace’s Tour thro Italy.* It is classical & elegant in a high degree – but has too much Republicanism too little
of the Manners of the people, and I think a disposition to overrate their Virtues
– God be praised for
the peace!* – but what Peace so long as the Witchcrafts of Bonaparte are so many.
P. is in very poor health.
We all join in kind remembrances to Yr. Ladyship and
Miss S.
A thousand thanks for your attention even to my Amusement, in sending me Walter Scotts last Work.* It was so considerately kind! He cannot but always be a fine Poet, and a great Master
of his Art; but this appears to me to be the most defective of his Poems. Like some
other people that I could name, not a hundred Miles from Barley Wood, he writes too
much. It is true he has an opulent Mind and the stores of his rich imagination are
not easily exhausted.
I have been delighted to see the elegant
Robert Sparrow in his character of Cicerone to the Saints.
He one day came down with
Mr. Wilson
whom I never saw before and who is a most amiable /Man/
and another with
Hugh Pearson an old favorite of mine
.
His Mentor of course accompanied.
It is pleasant to see him easy and cheerful in such sort of company, and they exhibit
religion to nam[tear] a pleasing form, without any of that alloy of coa[rse]ness [tear]
which by assimilating itself with religion, makes the /young/ fancy that religion itself is worse.
The Saints Jubilee at
Bristol
produced a great harvest.* About 800 to the Missionary only.* – The Jew business promises to revive these,* that I hope will give me a peep at
Mr. Way
–
I sent him my book,* but know not if he has read it. It is a singular thing, that I have received more
encouraging and flattering reports on that book from Bishops and the higher Clergy
than from almost any others. I scarcely expected it
As I am writing to the
Bishop of Saint David’s
I would not lose
the occasion of telling you that he is ‘the pious, learned and laborious Prelate’* to
which you refer in
your very obliging
letter
. He treats the Subject more at large in a little work against
the Catholic Claims entitled ‘Christ the Rock and not Saint Peter’*. But
I must recommend a more recent publication of his Lordship’s with a view to the
Socinian* friend to whom Your
verses are addressed* – it is called ‘The Bible and nothing
but the Bible the Religion of the Church of England’* addressed to the
Socinians. It is I think an able
refutation, and, (which I always think a good quality in Controversy) it is a
brief one.
Many thanks for the trouble you took on [unclear] Mr.
Cottrall’s Prayer*.
Should he accomplish his Object, perhaps you will
allow me to send your name as a Subscriber.
It would strengthen his hand I dont
know him. He is the faithful Porter of 6000 Souls. His Living £100 Pr
Ann:
Jebbs Sermons* are beautifully attractive,
sweetly elegant and highly polished as to style, and exhibiting Religion in her most
amiable dress, and her most lovely lineaments, but certainly not abounding in the
prominent exhibition of certain important doctrines. They abound however with
invitations and incentives to holiness and from a pleasing transcript of his own
pure mind. They are, I think, best suited to those who have already made a progress
in religion as they by no means take in its grand scheme and scope.
I greatly love the Man, and was much disappointed that his sudden
recal on the death of his brother stopped him on his journey
hither.
* Pray see all the interesting
Society at
Bellevüe, especially
Mr. Knox
, but take especial care that your
ears do not run away with your heart, for he has a most fascinating eloquence. With
great mutual regard we disagree on some very momentous points. As a teacher of
holiness, and an inspirer of contempt for the world he has scarcely an equal. He is
a good deal of a Mystic.
You see how openly I
write to you even respecting my real friends and favorites. I know my confidence
in you is not misplaced. Letters which are not written in that confidential
skein are not worth having, but the general habit would be
dangerous.
Almost the only day I have been from hom[e] [tear]
Saint Whalley came here – to take his final leave he
said
,* but I hope not so, as he was at
Glastonbury Meeting. I trust he will finish his vol: of
Sermons before he finishes his earthly career. –
I have just received from a stranger
a new book called ‘the Invisible Hand’ – I have read but a small
part, but it seems well written and pious – tis a Tale.
*
I spent a few days with the
Bishop of Gloucester who is going on like an Angel.
We are expecting him here. Has
Mr. Gisborne
’s Letter to said Bishop on the
Bible Society yet reached
Ireland?* It is a Master piece, for argument for eloquence truth and Spirit. It will make some people wince
I am sorry you saw so little of
Mrs. La Touche
I earnestly hope that visit
will be yet made; to say nothing of
her residence which I
wish to see of all places, she is herself very interesting, and a character of
inestimable value. (by the way) I am astonished at what you tell me of
Mr. Knox
, if there is any coolness it must be on
his part. I am sure it has not been on mine.
We have not indeed
corresponded as largely as we used to do, but he himself has apologized for it, from
his other pursuits.
My esteem for his virtues and admiration of his talents are
great and undiminished. We do not indeed think alike on certain religious points and
Mr. Jebb
(whom I also much love) had the candor to tell me that our
difference in this matter was the reason why
he did not write to thank me for my
books.
but I did not know why this should make any coolness among
/Christian/ friends, I am sure it will make none in heaven, and I am
the last person who would lower my regard for a friend on account of their opinion
of my writings.
I shall hope to see both Knox and Jebb next Summer.
General Macaulay who has been with us
, boasts much of some pleasant hours spent with
you in
Wales. He is a superior Man, brimful of information One of our best
Orientalists. He is just returned from his second visit to
the City of
sin, whither he went to see his friend
the Duke of
Wellington.
* He is going again on a
Mission about the French New Testament, which I am happy to say
hi /a/ s /been/ circulated by many Priests, to the
amount of three Editions. – I hope you have seen
Mr. Roberts
’ excellent
Article on ‘The Church in Danger’ in the last British Review.*
I am glad to find that valuable work is in high repute.
In the
November issue of The British Review, and London Critical
Journal, Roberts published a lengthy article entitled ‘The Church
in Danger’ in which he discussed several of the pamphlets written on the
subject of the
British and Foreign Bible Society, including the letter to
the
Bishop of Gloucester written by
Thomas Gisborne (see also 'To Olivia Sparrow, 20 October 1815'). Roberts’s
article featured missives from both sides of the argument, though his own
view was firmly in favour of the work of the Bible Society for having raised
‘a great proportion of these neutral beings’ (by which he meant the poor)
‘into a state of positive religion’ (The British Review,
November 1815, pp. 252-287 (p. 255)).
[(Read on Google Books.)]
I hope
your abode is quite out of the reach of alarm.
Mr. Shaw
M. P. for
Dublin* has sent me a frightful pamphlet artfully composed by
the enemy called ‘Irish History’.*
I had an alarming letter from the good
Archbishop of Cashell on the dangers of his,
and the neighbouring Diocese; but my fears have since been calmed by others from
Dr. Woodward
* and the
Dean of Cork.* Yet
it is impossible to be quite easy, especially since that abominable deed the
restoration of the
Jesuits.*
Those misguided Clergymen I named to you with
Baring and
Snow at their head, are I
fear sadly extending the cause of
Schism. They will have many followers among the
young the hot headed, and the lovers of Novelty. I have read a correspondence
between Mr. Baring and good
Mr. Biddulph
; the latter wrote a
most admirable letter to the other, deploring, exhorting, intreating. He begged him
if he had any objections to the Establishment to withdraw himself quietly and
without the presumptuous idea of forming a new Sect, to pass at least a year in
retirement, meditation and prayer. The Answer I presume was composed by the whole
Conclave, for it was artfully and, on their principles very well done.
Mr. Baring locked /up/
his Church, sent the key to
the Bishop
with the resignation of his Living.* The Bishop returned an answer
that as he was but a young Divine he hoped he might come to a better way of
thinking, he would therefore give him six months for reflection before he would
accept his resignation. He has ill rewarded this candor by setting up a Chapel for
his own heresies in Salisbury under the very nose of the Bishop. They* are also buying chapels in various places, for the
dissemination of their pestilent doctrines, for I think this is not too severe an
epithet to express
Antinomianism. Of one thing I am glad; they have it seems bought
the Chapel of
Mr. Huntington
in
London the late focus of Antinomian
doctrines*, by this I trust they will identify themselves in the
public opinion with this obnoxious Man. I am sadly grieved at this unhappy business
Baring and Snow I thought would be very useful Men; and so they would had they
confined themselves to their respective stations – but Men bred to business, without
learning, and who have but a few years began even to read the Bible, might have
contented themselves with being hearers without aspiring to be teachers. I pressed
this strongly on Snow, telling him that we wanted pious Bankers and Merchants much
more than pious Clergymen of which we had so many.
I have just got a letter from Paris from an learned and pious
Clergyman. The following is an Extract – ‘A friend of mine attempted to get some
Subscriptions for Les’s Bible at a Table where he dined consisting of Frenchmen.
He met with some little success, tho it disclosed the character of some of his
acquaintance One Gentleman of wealth and intelligence on most subjects, gravely
enquired whither the Bible was a new Political or religious work
which was to appear in numbers? Another confessed that altho originally intended
for a Priest, and living for several years in the house of a kinsman who
was a Priest he had never seen a Bible’!! – These two stories I
would not have credited on inferior authority.
The dear Bishop of
Gloucester
comes to us sometimes
. I hope you are
delighted with his Charge. He presided at our
Wrington Bible Meeting. I assure you it looked like the time of
primitive Christianity to see a Bishop making most expressive Speeches in a Waggon
house covered with an Awning of Canvas. We had many good Speakers, a large and
genteel Audience and 25 Clergymen of the Establishment. After the Meeting the select
part of the company repaired to
Barley Wood – Th[tear] of
us poor infirm Animals, enterta[tear] 62 Gentlemen and Ladies at
dinner and 120 at tea!! But the greatest part of the treat, because the rarest, was,
that it was one of the finest days that could be seen and our party seemed to enjoy
it very much. The dear Bishop said ‘it was a day of days’!
Cadell has just published a Volume of my
Poems in a new Edition with a very pretty Vignette of the Temple at
Barley Wood at the head.*
I am very uneasy about
Mr. Wilberforce
/he is ill/ . Much as he has done, he has not compleated his work, and I am base enough to fear
his being called to his rest and his reward, from a world which still wants him.
* I think I never was so delighted as at his present call of Providence.
King Henry the first of Hayti, late Christolphe, has sent to him to send him out teachers in Natural and
Experimental Philosophy, a Surgeon, School Masters &&c Is it not marvellous?
But what most delights me in said King Henry is, that as he has shaken off the French /Tyranny/ he wishes also to abolish the French language. Accordingly W– has obtained of the
Bible Society to send him out 5000 Testaments printed in French and English in Columns!! Is not this delightful. The new King wants to make an improved population, Wilbe. to make a Christianized one.*
He writes to me about books Teachers &c. The latter it will be rather difficult to
procure as they should know something of French.
* I am charmed with the energy of poor infirm
Sir Joseph Bankes, who says if he were not so old he would go himself.* I wish we could see more of this Missionary Spirit in our young Church Ministers.
By the way the
Missry. Meeting
lately held in
Bristol raised, in these distressing times above £800 besides Jewels to a considerable amount.*
I feel much pleasure at your report of dear
Felicia. I hope it will please God to give her such a measure of his
grace as to restrain her from the corruptions of a world which grows every year
visibly more thoughtless, more dissipated, and more dangerous to a young, amiable,
and inexperienced Mind. Rational Society, books well selected from History, Travels
/Poetry/ and above all books of moral and religious instruction, together with those
accomplishments which can be pursued and enjoyed, in the comforts of a home
circle, form some of the truest and safest pleasures of life. I believe I
recommended to you
Mr. Venn’s
Sermons*. I know nothing superior to them – solid, sober minded, and
elegantly written.
Do you know that the Heroic Epistle to Little Sally Horne,
is just republished together with the Search After Happiness, Bas
bleu
Florio &c in a little Lilliputian Volume price only
half a Crown. It is printed to match the little Sacred Dramas published
last year.
You must know that I sold the Copy of these
works many years ago to
Cadell and
Davies
;
and this year some poor
Needy Booksellers have published new Editions of these Works, this is downright
piracy, and is robbing
Cadell and Davies of
their lawful property. In order to counteract these pirates Cadell has published
these small editions at this low price and
I shall be obliged to you to mention it to
your friends not to buy anything of mine (except the Tracts)
which has not the name of
Cadell & D
to it. I wish [tear] you would be so good as mention it [tear] any
booksellers you may call upon. These small Editions sell
rapidly in Bristol and London, I suppose they are got to Bath
. Many
are glad to get these Poems at so easy a rate as they were before sunk in
the Mass of 18 Volumes*. I can the better recommend these tiny
Volumes as I have no interest in them, but I only wish to have justice done to
my
Booksellers
. You will excuse
this long story. I congratulate You on your
Son’s
progress. God bless them both!
My
Sisters
, who are poorly
, join in most affectionate
regards to You. Mine to
Miss Horne and the young
Ones
I have obeyed
Mr. Inglis’
commands in
writing to the
Miss Roberts’ on the Subject of
the Bristol Review, I shall see them soon when I shall be more
explicit. I wished, when I read it that some of those horrid quotation from that
Wretch
Lady Morgan* had been omitted, for tho they
were doubtless inserted with a view to inspire horror, yet religion is more honoured
by their exclusion than by their condemnation.
Mr.
R
I believe did not write it, yet as Editor* he might have prevented.
As to Llalla Rooks* (I don’t know how to spell it) and other mischiefs
of the
Byron School they are so nauseous to me
that I rarely look at them. I find the Review of
Sheridan was by
Roberts*. I think
it a Masterly criticism. I fancy too by the style that he reviewed French
Literature*. I cannot agree with you in the condemnation of this Article. There was a
passage or two I think I did not like, but I cant recollect what. I think it a very
able Review. I know few persons who could have written it, because few possess such
a knowledge of the French Writers. I do not agree him in his censures of
Borleau [sic] or
Racine but that is more matter of taste. I was afforded [letter ends
abruptly]
You would, were you not candor itself, think me a strange Animal, not to have thanked
you, both for your kind letter and interest/ing/ present of books.
But in this seeming/ly/ quiet spot I can hardly give you an idea what a scanty commodity
time has been with me;
the continued bad state of my two Sisters
,
company very frequently, and
every interval filled with scribbling half penny and penny compositions
. Tho I would have you to know, I am now rising in dignity and importance, having
just finished (what I hope may be my last) a work that will be very costly three half pence, if not actually two pence, The Death of Mr. Fantom the new Fashioned Reformist.* If not a very learned composition, I hope it may be of some little use.
And now let me thank you for my book as Patty desires to do for hers. Chalmers has indeed numberless passages of great splendor, and and a general richness of language
which one does not often meet with.* As to /the/ Jesuit Book,* I would that every Member of both Houses of Parliament were compelled to peruse it before they ventured to give a vote on
the tremendous question which I suppose will soon be brought forward, and which, in my humble opinion, if carried as I fear it will be carried, threatens
more evil to this country than all the
Hunts and
Cobbetts and
Cockraines in it.* The single Chapter which relates to
Lancashire makes me tremble.*
We lately crammed in six Gisbornes; but such was the uncomfortable state of our family,
that we could only keep them two or three days.
Indeed it was as much as they could spare us. Poor
Mary looks the picture of silent woe.
She is indignant both at the Memoir and the picture which are prefixed to the two Valuable Volumes, and deeply hurt that
no kind of notice is taken of herself.
*
I should regret your absence too, but that
Mr. Wilkes
told me yesterday what great good you were doing where you are. Of that indeed I
was persuaded bef[ore] [tear] A propos of Wilkes. Have you seen his 'Christi[an] [tear] Essays'.* They only reached me last night, so that I have had only time to read the last Essay
in the first Volume which is an excellent Review of the character and death of my
dear old friend
Dr. Johnson
.*
If you approve the work after reading it, I hope you will recommend it.
I hear
Lord C– goes abroad next week, and that he has been again much indisposed – I am truly sorry,
but cannot help feeling nhow on this, as on all other occasions, all things work together for good to them
that love God.
My dearest Madam now that you are no longer buffeted about by the Waves, I hope you
will recover a little strength and flesh, two articles in which I could wish to see
you a little more abound.
I will not close this scrawl till I have insisted upon it that you do not think of answering it. I love you too well to allow you to write, I hope you have quite
suspended the arc of your pen; in case of any change for better or worse You will
I know cause some one to give me a line. Pray get Cooper’s Letters* (the Sermon writer) They are admirable, both informing and entertaining. Bean’s Sermons* are also valuable. I suppose you have got Pearson’s Life of Buchanan* Wilkes’s Essays* are very good.
I gallop on hardly knowing what I write and without a minute to read it, but I cannot
bear to suffer another post to go out without a line.
–
I have had several good books given me lately, among others the life and Diary of Mrs. Graham* an American which contains as much solid piety expressed in as eloquent strains as
I have often seen; for I am not in general fond of Diaries.
‘Cowpers’ letters’ You have read by this time, and are I trust as much pleased with them as I am.*
Chalmers Evidences,*
White’s and Beans Sermons,* the two Preachers at Welbeck Chapel and two old friends of mine have been also sent
me /&
Blackmans Life./ * I wish they could also send me time to read them.
You have doubtless heard of
Mr. Cowan
’s Eccentricities. He has formally renounced the Church, and is setting up a religion
of his own, if it can be called his own which is so identified with the doctrines
of
Baring & Co
.* He has published his ‘Reasons for quitting the Church,’ in an ill written inconsistent
Antonomian Pamphlet.* I am glad at any rate to get such doctrines out of the Church, but I am sorry for
this misguided Man. His principal friends have forsaken him. His inferior Adherents
are getting Subscriptions for building him a Chapel, but are not so successful as
they expected.*
They came to me and I had an hour’s conflict in justifying my refusal to subscribe.
I assured them it was not to save a few Guineas for I had a personal kindness for
Cowan, but I could not answer it to my Conscience to give any support to a plan which
was intended to be subversive of the Establishment, and to propagate doctrines hostile
to her principles.
I am engaged in the very vapid and dry employment of revising some of my own Works,
‘Cœlebs and Practical Piety’ for New Editions;* rectifying commas and colo[n]s [tear] and correcting points and particles suits not
my impatient pen, tho I am thankful for the success which imposes on me such dull
work.
I think you would be pleased with Buchanan’s Life.*
I have the satisfaction to hope that
Patty is a little better. She is a decided Invalid, but I am thankful for any improvement.
The Harfords have been to us since their return, overflowing with accounts of His Holiness, and their friends the Cardinals &c.
I hope they will now after two years wandering sit down quietly and become a blessing
to their neighbours, to the rich by their example and to the poor by their bounty.* Not a day of so uncertain a thing as life is to be lost.
May the Holy Spirit quicken us all in our respective duties, support us under our
respective trials, and direct us to look for peace and rest where alone it is to be
found.
You my dearest lady have been deeply exercised; God gives to you the same tokens
of his love in a /great/ degree which he gave to the Saints of old, exercises of patience, submission and
holy acquiescence in his Will. Kindest love to your dear Companions
In the intervals of sickness and other engagements I
have been called upon to write a number of little papers and Tracts
with a view to furnish some little antidote to the poison of disaffection and
Sedition with which too many of the lower class are infected.* I did not at first
acknowledge myself the Author but I was found out. Seeing it could not be concealed
I have now called them Cheap Repository Tracts.
I have given them to
Hatchard who will be glad to serve you with as much
of these penny wares as you chuse; and pray recommend them to your friends for
dispersion among the common people,
the Songs are only three Shillings a
hundred. New Tracts a penny /each/
Have you seen my large Vol. of Poems lately printed, in which
Sally Horne appears*
You will smile to hear that among a Multitude of Royal funeral Sermons*
I have just received one from my friend Dr. Maltby
!!
* I have not yet read it
Daniel Wilson’s admirable Defence of the Bishop and the Missionary Society has reached the Sixteenth Edition.* He has just published a thick Volume of Sermons.* The few I have read are excellent.
I hope to see him and probably
Cunningham &
Owen &c next Week, if they come down to the
Missry. Meeting
at
Bristol.
They have just recd. at Bristol £100 from New Subscribers
I hope as the attachment of these two amiable young people seems formed on solid
grounds,
that they may prove a blessing to each other, and to the parish
in which the Providence of Him who orders the bounds of our habitation and our
whole /lot/ in life, shall place /them. /
There is
no character more exalted or more useful than that of an amiable Clergyman who
faithfully preaches the doctrines of the New Testament, and who gives the best
evidences that he himself believes /them/ by living as he
preaches; and who makes his week day practice the powerful illustration of his
Sunday exhortations. Nor has the Wife of such a Man a slight character to sustain;
she will best prove her affection for her husband by seconding to the utmost of her
power his endeavours to do good both to the souls and bodies of his people. To the
poor she will be a pattern of kindness, to the affluent an example of prudence
sobermindedness and piety. Her husband’s public lessons will produce a double effect
on his domestic companion. Will dear Felicia forgive all this? I am tempted to it
by
the serious strain of your letter which pleased me the more as I thought I saw in
it
a visible growth in the state of y[our] [tear] own mind.
I pray God to
increase in you more and more his grace, without which all other advantages
tempting as they may seem to the worldly and the superficial, have no solid
worth
. When you see dear
Mrs.
Horne
assure her of my most affectionate respects.
My
Sister, who as usual is a great
sufferer
joins me in kind regards to Miss Horne and to your fair
daughter. Mr. Welby I am sure stands in no need of such advice respecting
books as I can give him Among the ancient Divines, I prefer Archbishop
Leighton,* Hopkins,* Reynalds,*
Taylor* among modern Sermons, ,Venns*
Cooper’s* Daniel Wilson,* Gallaudet,*
Bradley,* Gisborne* Porteus* I think
Milner’s Church History* a most excellent
/work/
Thanks for your very kind and interesting
letter.
We were all deeply affected with
Henry Venn and all the circumstances which accompanied
his introduction into his sacred Office.*
May he, in living and preaching
be the exact representative of his excellent
Father’s.
Such fathers as his and
yours have left a high Standard to which I trust it will
be the study and the delight of the children of both families to act up. It is a
great thing even where we cannot say we have altogether attained to be
always pressing forward. I doubt not I shall admire
Mr. Dealtry’s
Sermon* as I do every thing that comes from his pen, his head, and his
heart. I should be sorry if they had diluted it. I do not approve of that prudence
which is apt to put
‘trop d’eau dans le vins de
peres.’
* In my poor judgment it is not easy to be too strong on the
delinquencies of the present times – When we adopt excessive moderation to the few
we are guilty of cruelty to the many – I should prefer the Sermon glowing and
animated as you heard it, to the more lowered cautious production, after it had
passed thro the hands of the nibbling and lapping critics.
Take notice I write upon your information for I have not yet seen the Sermon in
question. I have had much anxiety on the subject of
Mrs. Inglis
. Her life is so valuable that one cannot
think without deep concern of any thing likely to affect it. I beg my kind regards
to them both, and tell
Mr. Inglis
how much I felt the sympathizing kindness of
his affectionate letter
.
I am now beginning to answer with my own pen a few of the
overflowing number I have received. I have deeply felt the affectionate kindness
of many though I have not been able to acknowledge it.
My eyes are better, but I am not
yet able to use them by candle light, which now fills a large portion of ones
time.
Mrs.
Macaulay
and her daughter* who have been with me near a Month
have most kindly supplied my lack of sight.
Alas! it is Newspapers
that now fill too much of ones time and thoughts. I tremble for our country
politically and morally. I do not know my own nation we certainly are
not that England I once knew, and must always love. I look to
the death of
the king as the completion of our calamities
.
Rivington has asked leave to collect into a [tear]le cheap
book the Tracts and ballads agai[nst] [tear] Se[dition] [tear] and blasphemy I
wrote in the last year or two, as they will now come from the Organ of
Orthodoxy, I hope they may make their way,
you must recommend the
dispersion of them to all who come in your way
I shall
order one to be sent to
Mr.
Inglis
.*
Such a letter as your last should not have been unanswered a day, if I could have commanded my time, but in different ways
I have really been working double tides. So much company, such an over-flow of letters,
to say nothing of a presumptuous book of between 5 and 6 hundred pages hurried over in a few Months.
* – It will be abused, and I am prepared for it.
I hope
Hatchard has by this time sent it you as I directed before publication
Professor Farish who was here the other day gave us an interesting account of your
Bible Meeting. I rejoyce that Episcopal tyranny could not defeat your pious labours. I have heard
such stories lately from that quarter, as I had rather repeat than write.* –
We too in our little way had a most prosperous
Meeting* 40 Clergymen &c – 120 dined at Barley Wood in the Garden chiefly, and 200 drank tea
–
I shall thankfully forwards your kind Subscriptions to the French Translation, as soon as I am informed that my former one was received.
* They frightened me by calling the Tracts
Contes Moraux, that Rogue Mamontal’s Title I have as I think I told you prefixed the Epithet
Nouveaux which I think will obviate it.* The priests are very watchful and we must be prudent. I have got in the Conservateur, as well as the News papers of
Paris, such abuse of the
Bible Society!* – Poor
Dr. Hamilton
! his society was rather too much for you! Painful recollections must have been inseparable
from the sight of him. – And there is no hope!*
I was so absorbed in my sorrow, that a second and third Edition of my book* have been nearly sold without my being able to make one correction.
I never expected even the first Edition which was a large one would go off,* & my book seller writes me there never was a Season more particularly bad for the
Sale of books on account of the state of the Country, so that I am astonished at a
success I so little expected.*
It was written in great haste. I now hope to make the next Edition if it reaches another,
a little more correct.
*
Give me leave to recommend to You a little Poem called ‘the Sceptic’.* It is written by a young Woman who is living in great Obscurity and almost poverty
in
Wales. She wrote two Years ago a Poem ‘on the Restoration of the fine Arts to Italy’,* a little work of great merit, but which I fear never made its way. It abounds in
fine taste, elegant diction and great harmony of numbers. She is married to a poor
Officer:* The ‘Sceptic’ is less splendid; but is not only extremely well written, but in a
fine Spirit of piety It is too much to hope that dear
Mr. Dunn
will be a Bishop What an Archbishop of Them [unclear]! God send more such!
I have not seen Dodwell’s Greece,* and shall be very thankful for it, as you so kindly offer it.
I beg leave to present
this new and improved Edition of the Bible Rhymes* to your dear
little girl
. In great haste I am my dear Madam
The
Bishop of Gloucester’s ‘Charge’* must have delighted you. It is a kind of
Vademecum for Clergymen.
I have seen him [tear] I quitted my bed and his new born infant whom he calls his
Duodecimo.
* I have also had in my sick room lately,
Robert Grant
Sir R. Inglis,
Lord Sidmouth, the learned
Dr. Macbride
* with many other distant friends whom I never thought to see in this world.
1 Cœlebs*
3 Practical piety*
4
Christian Morals*
3 Essay on St.
Paul*
2 Hints to a Princess*
1 Manners of the
Great*
12 Bible Rhymes*
3 Moral
Sketches*
3 Small Edit of my Poems*
3
Small Sacred Dramas
1 My Poems large
Edition*
Stowell’s New Life of Bishop Wilson*
I am thankful to say that my health is greatly
improved
. If I were a disciple of
Prince
Hohenloe
* it would be called a Miracle.
I do not go out, but am able to see my friends. Indeed my
excellent Physician finds fault that I see too much
company, but I cannot well avoid it, tho I suffer upon it
.
I hope you will
recommend my friend
Cottle’s
‘Plymouth Antinomians’*. It ably exposes the worst heresy that ever
infected the Church.
As I presume the third Edition must be published [obscured
by inkblot] /published by/ this time, I beg the favour of you to send me half a
Dozen Copies by the Coach directed to
Mr.
Bulgin
for me.
I have lately had a visit from
Mr Eastburn
– the chief
Bookseller and Printer of New York.
He sent me some years
since /a present of/ an American Edition of my own works
– He printed
thirty Editions of Coelebs One thousand in each Edition. He is a
man of excellent Sense and character –
I hope the little Book continues to keep up its credit. I never received
more flattery for any [original] dish, than for this hash.
Have you seen L’Angleterre by the
Baron de Staël?* I hear it highly commended but tho I have had it a good while, have not time to read
a page. How gratifying that both the children of
that brilliant but unprincipled Woman should convert talents resembling her own, to the best purposes
I am in your /debt/ for two letters, on topics
most essentially different, but each deeply excellent and interesting in its
way. That which contained the Saints Journal* /of/ the first week in
May /was/ not only delightful to myself
but was a treat conferred on as
many of my numberless visitors as I thought worthy of such a
banquet
. The last, Alas! what shall I say to the last? Dear
tormented
Charmile!*
I have cordially joined in the heartach of the mourning
family. She was not only the favorite but the idol of so many who were able to
appreciate her talents, her principles and her various powers of pleasing. The
wounds of her doating brothers* and
husband*
will not soon be healed, I am glad I saw the latter when he came to fetch his
incomparable Wife. It is a painful pleasure that she so lately spent a fortnight
with me after a separation of so many years. Poor dear little
Emily*. I assure /you/ I was not the only one who
shed tears at her remarks. Poor dear Child! she was always writing Sermons or
Verses at me when she was here. I do not stand in need of the Memento on the
Table before me, but I am glad I admired her work basket which she gave me, and
when I want /it/ I always say fetch me my Charmile!
I hear frequently from that most active and genuine Christian the
Duchess of Beaufort* – She is the
Lady Olivia of this part of the World. Three of her daughters, as you know, are most exemplary.* I trust you have read
Lord Bexley’s Bible Speech,*
he sent it me with [tear]ly pious letter. Tho not many [tear], not many noble are called, yet blessed be God some are, and the number is visibly greatly
increased, and increasing.
Your absence alone from a party which had for sometime been looking forward to you as its principal
charm and delight would have been no small cause of regret, but how greatly is that
regret aggravated by knowing that vexatious and painful anxiety kept you from us.
I cannot express to you how lively an interest I take in every thing that concerns
You, more especially if the occurrence is of a nature to give you uneasiness. I do earnestly, and have earnestly prayed that it may not be of a severe or permanent kind.
When
the excellent Bishop &c &c arrived without you you cannot imagine what a blank we felt; but greatly was
the disappointment to me augmented when he put your kind Note into my hand.
You may depend on my silence as well as on some that of the Bishop who is a Man of
the most delicate feelings added to his other virtues; I hope you have seen his Charge it is a very fine one, quite Apostolical.* He had ugly corners to turn and he turned them with much dexterity. He made his own
breakfast and quitted us at seven in the morning in order to preach two Lectures on
that day twenty Miles from hence, and seven or eight from
Wells to which he was to return at Night. His labours are wonderful, and he bears all the
obloquy and reproach which they bring upon him from certain quarters, with great meekness
and equanimity. On the other hand he is almost adored by the religious party and I
believe has added to that number many converts.
I must write one line to
thank for
your two
letters
,
which I do with the more pleasure
because they were written in so good a hand, so neat and free from blots. By this
obvious improvement you have intitled yourself to another book.
You must go to
Hatchard’s and chuse. I think we have nearly exhausted the
Epics. What think you of a little good prose? – Johnson’s Hebrides*
or Walton’s Lives* – unless you would like a neat Edition of
Cowper’s Poems* or of Paradise Lost* for your own
eating* – In any case chuse something which you do not
possess.
– I want you to become a complete Frenchman that I may give you
Racine the only Dramatic Poet I know in any modern language that is
perfectly pure and good.* On second thoughts what say you to Potter’s
Eschylus* on attendant that you are a complete Grecian? – It is very
finely done and as heroic as any of your Epics. If you prefer it Send for this to
Hatchard’s
neatly bound.
I think you have hit off the Ode very well, I am much obliged
to you for the Dedication
. I shall reserve your translation to see how
progressive your improvement is. Next Summer if it please God I hope We shall talk
over some of these things. Remember me kindly to
Your
Pappa
and
tell
him I cannot say how much I am obliged to him for his kindness to poor
Shepherd
*.
He has made the Widow’s heart to sing for joy* – O Tom! that
is better, and will be found so in the long /run/ to have written as good an Ode as
Horace himself*.
I hope you have seen a little poem called ‘Emigration’.* It is written by a young Clerical friend of mine, but is Anonymous. It is a Subject
very important to the religious, moral, and patrio[tic] [tear] interests of this Country.
The great and Opulent are flying from their own country to
one which has brought our present miseries upon us. They have turned their numerous Servants upon the world to beg or to rob. They injure
Government by escaping the Taxes, and starve the poor for want of labour.
Lord Darlington who draws £6000 a year from this Parish has never given it a guinea while we little
people are drained.* I have a large School in two adjoining parishes, the inhabitants are all /poor/ Miners, not one able to give a farthing and trade is so bad they cannot sell a single
bag of Ore, they are near perishing.* In the mean time our very Curates are living at
Paris. It really makes my heart Ach. I have several Correspondents on the Continent, all
describe our Ladies as notoriously violating the Sabbath, this is not
Mr. Marriott
’s fault* The Pope himself expressed his disappointment at the character of the English ladies
at
Florence
Naples and
Rome the gayest Sunday assemblies are held by our Country women. Is it not making Religion
a Geographical distinction to do in France or
Italy what they would not do in
London? If still with you thank the Bishop for his kind letter. I greatly love and esteem
Mrs. Ryder
A thousand thanks for your attention to our pleasure in sending Clarke’s New Volume.
* It is an age since I heard from You.
I write a hasty line to take advantage of
Mr. Addington
’s Patent Frank
* to send you a Specimen of my learned labours.
I was earnestly desired by some high persons to do something towards an Antidote for
the evil Spirit of insurrection which is at work more busily perhaps than you are
aware.
The Tract inclosed I have adapted to the present times
, and it is widely circulated.*
Perhaps you would like to order some copies from
Hatchard, and recommend Your Friends to do the same.
We have been much amused with the Life of Wolsey, published in the
Collection of Wordsworth,
not the silly part, but
the
Ecclesiastical Biographer.7 Tis as amusing as
a Novel; we finished by reading the Tragedy of Henry the 8th. – Surely
Shakespeare must have /seen/ this
Life of Wolsey written by his
Secretary
Cavendish
.8 - By the way – among the petty exercises of patience in
children I shoud put them to read old English, black letter, and bad hand
writings.
of its grossest corruptions. I own I think meanly of French poetry, but by no means
undervalue many of the writers of it, it is of the poverty of the materials which
the French language furnishes /for poetry/ of which I complain. For many
other species of composition I am fond of the language I once, I forget where,
wrote something against the character of French Versification2 and had
immediately sent me by
Monsr. Dutems
*
work vols. of the Poetry of Jean Baptiste Rousseau, in which are
some fine Religious Odes.*
We both write in kindest respects to
Mr.
and
Mrs [superscript needs to be
checked here] Inglis and in love to dear
Henry
Lucy
Watson and all the young things. Pray tell
Etta that
Louise goes to school by day, and talks of Articles and Pronouns,
and [unclear] and [unclear], and [unclear] and [unclear], with much of her profound learning
Your kind present of
Mr. Croker’s
History* she can nearly repeat all the Stories, and if she could help
it woud read no other book, except indeed Black Giles and Tawney
Rachel*
I coud not answer your letter
sooner.
As you seem to wish to furnish
Tracts for this Month I will say no more against /it/ but I hope
you will allow it to drop afterwards. –
Hazard
writes me he can get no
3d.
part of Cannardly.
No Prayers nor
1st Hester Wilmot
Nor 7 Part
Bragwell – He suggests that Editions of these & some others shoud
be printed
This Subject of Money leads me to say (which I did not intend) that I believe I must
desire you not to give away the Interest of
Mrs.
Bouveries’s
Money any more but to let me have it; do not however tell
her this just now. I am now engaged for such very large expences, that, humanly
speaking, I do not very well see how I shall get thro it, and my faith /which is not
over strong/ is kept pretty much on the sketch. Assessed Taxes and some other things
have reduced my Sisters’ Income £150 a Year and they spent all before; as I shall
feel it right to help towards this deficiency I shall not be able to make /the new/
addition towards the Schools which I had hoped I will not however distrust that
Providence which has so unexpectedly carried me on hitherto and I hope to use these
little difficulties and uncertainties as an exercise of my trust in him, You will
think so when I tell you that in spite of the continued opposition at Wedmore we are
building a house there
P. says she thinks we tire
you with our Stories, I will however tell you one which I think will be much to
Mrs. Clarke’s
taste. After going on
Sunday to Wedmore (30 miles there and back) on the wettest day I was ever out in we
found our poor 300 Children assembled in the half finished room without a floor a
door or a window, we taught them with great peace and content, not one of the
Farmers condescending to come nigh us, or offering the least accommodation tho the
rain was so violent /but I borrowed a Cottage/ At length the season came out – The
children had /been/ trying to sing for the first time one of Watt’s
Hymns, this brought a Farmer who said now he was sure we were
Methodys; on being asked what gave the Parish such
a terror of Methodists he said this was his answer – ‘Some years ago a
Methody preacher came and preached in our Orchard under my Mother’s
best apple tree, immediately after the leaves withered and the tree died; we saw at
once this was a judgment, and called a vestry to see what could be done
to save our Orchards; We there agreed that we shoud not have an Apple left in the
parish if we suffered a Methody to stay, so we ordered the people to get all the
stones and rotten eggs they could muster, and beat the whole crew out of the Parish;
they did so, and sure enough it saved our Orchards for we have not lost an Apple
tree since’. I have told it verbatim – This is the enlightened 18 Century! One woud
put up with a little ill treatment to instruct such a parish as this in spite of
itself
