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
