Wordsworth, Dora (1804-1847). - Letter, from Rydal Mount, to Jemima Katharine Quillinan (1819-1891) and Edward Quillinan (1791-1851), Chez Mme Le Leu, Haute Ville, Boulogne sur Mer, dated 6 October 1833. WLL / Wordsworth, Dora / 1 / 54

Rydal Mount

Octor 6th 1833 -

You well know my very dear Mima how ready I am to catch at any paltry excuse for writing to you & Rotha so you may fancy how pleased I was with your request to hear from me on your birthday your 14th birthday I believe - I hope yours may be a merrier 14th birthday than mine was; for on that day I first entered upon a school-life - & school-discipline to me who till that time had run perfectly wild was as irksome as it was needful but when once broken in I found the life a very happy one, & after an imprisonment of three years was almost as loathe to resume my liberty as I had been to part with it - but you see you are quite beforehand with me - your school days are almost over when mine had to begin & yours is the best place - for it was cruel to exchange donkey rides & picnic-parties, & nutting-parties - for "French Classes" - & "English-Classes" & "Music Lessons" &c. Reading of your Donkey expeditions almost makes me feel young again - we used to have such fun with our Donkies & were as proud of them as it was possible to be - cleaned them ourselves - spent all our little pocket money in adorning their bridles & saddle-cloths - made predatory excursions to the corn chest & potato heap - in short were consistently getting into serious scrapes in their service - or through their services - but as for Aunt Sarah she would never condescend to mount our steeds & if she visits you at Boulogne & you persuade her to ride a Donkey you will achieve what none at Rydal could achieve - I think I may however have

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said in my letter to Rotha more about the probability of her visiting you than I was quite justified in saying - what ever I did say was more from what I heard from her before she left Rydal than from any thing she has since told us by letter - indeed I do wish with you that I too could accompany her & yet if I could I doubt very much if I would - this must seem very strange to you as it would have done to me a few years back - but I suffered so much when I parted from Rotha that I dont suppose I could summon courage to face another farewell. This is a cowardly admission is it not? - but alas it is too true!

I have the last week been riding with one friend of yours & calling upon another - Miss Keate I rode with & such a lovely ride we had! & Emma Turton I called upon - she is with her Uncle & Aunt & Cousin at Miller-Bridge for a week or two - a cottage on the banks of the Rotha - Miss Boothe enclosed Rotha’s & your letter to her Uncle at Ambleside & she was kind enough to bring it to me & in meeting her I felt something of the pleasure of meeting an old friend her name was so familiar to me from hearing my Redbreast speak of her - I hope to know her better before she leaves the neighbourhood but as their stay is short they cannot have much spare time & we almost less for my dear Father has been a sad sufferer ever since I wrote to you. Inflammation in the eyes not in the lids I grieve to say - at length after frequent bleedings & blisterings the

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active inflammation is got under but the eye is left so weak that he cannot attempt to open it & till today he has kept to the house & to an almost dark room - & we lead him about as if he were a blind man. Now his medical men are applying tonics & have given him permission to go into the garden - but he could not bear the light & was obliged to come in this morning tho' his eyes were protected by spectacles a shade three crepe vails & an Umbrella - I trust however they may strengthen tho' after so very severe an attack it must be a work of time - Now that the Inflammations have assumed so serious a shape we are most anxious he should consult Alexander or some other occulist of eminence & hope by & bye to persuade him to go up to town for the purpose & if my Aunt continues as she is there can be no objection to his leaving

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home. We tell my Aunt she is the strongest of the party now! she takes her drives out of doors & her walks in the house - & often in the evening when we are quite alone she brings her work down stairs & sits an hour or two with us - Rotha would be surprised to see her -

Well but to people you know - Miss Keate, she was here this morning to bid good bye & sorry indeed we were to part with her tho' owing to my Father's distressing indisposition we were able to see so very very little of her & her Mother - & as I told her she had used Westmoreland very ill - only giving it two short ten days & passing the rest of the summer in the Sister county Cumberland - She desired me to give her best love to you & Rotha (as did Mrs Keate the other evening when they were kind enough to drink tea with us) & I was to tell Papa which you must do for me that she had been up three mountains - Skiddaw Saddleback & Fairfield so he must now be for ever silent on the tender subject of Snowdon - I told her I did not believe Mr Quillinan could boast so much - so if I am wrong, you must do your best to secure my pardon from Papa. Our friends leave Ambleside tomorrow for Malvern where they talk of remaining a fortnight & thence I believe they proceed direct to Ride. they have lovely weather for their journey & have had a week of exquisite weather for seeing this neighbourhood with wh

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they seemed thoroughly charmed -

Rotha's picture met with commendation to my heart's content - but do you know I have lost it again - It is gone off to an Exhibition of Paintings by living Artists at Carlisle - Willy begged so hard for it I could not refuse him & the God Father is gone too to take care of his "spiritual Child'' - your picture & Papas are not yet arrived we are sorry tell Papa he has had so much trouble in writing about them - but we feared Mr Stone might have sent them off & thro' the carelessness of carriers they had not arrived & were tossing about in some warehouse - Miss Booth however was good enough to tell us when she forwarded your letter - that the Pictures were safe & would be sent off in the course of a few days - I forget to mention when writing of the copy of Ro's picture - that the copyist has committed one mighty error - instead of making a bright blue Italian sky which makes one instantly think of Rotha as living out of doors among birds & butterflies & sunshine & flowers she has sobered it down to a dead unmeaning English blue - this might very easily be altered & if when Papa sees the thing he thinks it worth keeping at all my Father wishes he would have the alteration made

We have not heard very lately from Brinsop - nor of my little niece I know not whether she had cut her first tooth when I last wrote to you - she has two now! I have to thank you for two letters & I have got to the

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end of this long scrawl without one word expressive of the pleasure I received from them I am delighted to hear you are taking singing lessons - of all accomplishments singing is the one that ranks highest with me - a power which I was ever the most delighted disposed to envy. I have heard no singing this year our Canary bird Miss Kinnaird played us false this season & has been singing to the Welsh Harpers instead of to the English Poets -

Miss Smith leaves this country on Thursday her health is wonderfully restored - indeed she looks in perfect health - she has had so many visits to pay that she was not able to return to us as she half promised - I have left a small bit of my sheet to say a few words to Papa in answer to his, so I must bid adieu to you tho' I could scribble on for ever - Give Ro. one of your very tenderest kisses for me & with best love from all in this house & heartfelt wishes for many & many happy returns on the 9th of Octor Believe me ever yr faithful & affte friend Dora Wordsworth

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My dear Mr Quillinan I know not how to answer yr last letter for [[-?-] [-?-] [-?-] [-?-]] truly I knew not [[-?-]] what to believe & what not to believe - so like a wise woman I determined just to believe what it pleased me to believe & to consider the rest as[badinage] & so I will believe that you dont flout elderly ladies now; as I am enlisted in that respectable band I am naturally solicitous for its honour - then as to flirting I am well pleased you have been so agreeably employed, but there has been no such fun for me: when I was young even I never found any one disposed to flirt with me so now I have no reason to complain: as to petrified hearts those who have them may be envied & I congratulate you on your good fortune & only wish I were in like case; & as to my Rotha being "slow as an old cat" that I dont believe - To me she appeared quick as lightning in every thing but arithmetic I never saw a child to be compared with her - but perhaps I have only been thrown among Stupes & in the north to be sure we are very tortoise-like - Her tears I grant you were very distressing & many times caused mine to flow but finding I could not prevent their flow either by blame or praise I made up my mind to the misfortune & then all went well - I do wish I had the Darling & her tears back again! - when you marry one of the steady ladies you have in your eye you will spare her to me wont you? for a little bit at any rate & as for all your explanation about your talked of visit to the Isle of Wight you were too good natured a great deal to give it at all - it was very impertinent in me to insinuate any thing - if I did - I dont think I intended to do so - & I rather think your own conscience must have had a good deal to do with twisting my words into "insinuations" - & so now to be particularly amiable I will tell you what, She has been flirting away at Keswick with a very handsome & agreeable man - & to be still more amiable I will tell you nothing more about him only I will tell you I had it from Edith who likes the Lady very much as they all do at Greta Hall & as we all do here - Jemima will tell you how sorry we were not to see more of them - & the unhappy cause - indeed we have had an anxious three weeks & father has been very patient - tho' today his spirits have given away a good deal - the progress that is made appears to him so very trifling as he cannot yet keep his eye open but

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we are assured all is going on well this is the first time that the ball of the eye has been the seat of the inflammation, before it was always in the lid, & the eye only inflamed thro' sympathy - & this change for the worse it is that has made us so very anxious: Mr Carr is still from home a great trouble to my Mother - but we consider ourselves most fortunate in having the advice of a very clever man - a Dr Vose a retired Physician who practised in Liverpool with great success & who himself has been a great sufferer from inflamed eyes. Could Father have kept his mind quiet the eyes would have been better before this; but he has had a sonnet mania upon him & compose he would & will in spite of dreadful threats held out by his Drs & the recollection of blisters upon blisters & leeches after leeches - He was never able to get to Storrs nor to call upon Mr Upcher who must have left the country ere this tho' we have heard nothing of him since the day he was here - but all the Cantabs are gone or on the point of taking flight. I am quite ashamed to send dear Mima so untidy a letter but if she knew how I have been hurried in the writing it she would forgive it - Father of course requires constant attendance (& as I tell him) he makes a very bad blind man for he cannot walk across the room without a guide - then I am Aunt's charioteer & in great requisition this lovely weather, how I do wish you could see our mountains just now but it is idle to employ ones time in wishing & doubly idle to commit those wishes to paper but alas my days are spent in wishing impossibilities -

Kindest love from all. Do tell us if you have lost that distressing sensation in your head -

Believe me ever your faithful & affectionate

Dora Wordsworth

I ought to apologise for so soon sending a second endless Epistle but Mima's request was not to be withstood by so selfish a mortal as myself -

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Tuesday I contrived to miss the post yesterday - so I open my letter to tell you that we think my Father something better today at any rate he is much more cheerful & in better heart about himself - We have had a letter from Aunt Sarah with good reports of all our Herefordshire friends - "Ja" has been with her Father and Mother visiting the [Ricardos]. I sent my last Boulogne letter to Brinsop & Aunt Sarah says "I could not help being amused at the notion the dear Children at Boulogne had taken up that I was to visit them [instanter] - I shall write to them soon & wish I could send Mr Quillinan his Socks which have long been ready for him" I had a letter from Mary too tell Rotha she Mary is quite jealous of the progress Rotha is making in her writing. Uncle Henry is with us still he leaves us to join Aunt Joanna at the Isle of Man towards the end of the week - Cuthbert Southey and one of his Cousin Hills are just come in they bring good accounts of all our Keswick friends. I hold the pen for Father Thro' Mr Dyce I have received a dedicatory Epistle to Mr Southey & myself from Sir E.B: it is written in verse & with the usual [force] & spirit of the author as the state of my eyes entirely disables me from both reading & writing & as mental exertion is forbidden me by my medical attendants

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I hope Sir E: will accept of my thanks for this honor thro' the channel of the first letter which you may write. I shall take it kindly if you further say that I am happy he continues to be able to employ his mind so vigorously. About the respective merits of the causes of Pedro & Miguel I know little but the duplicity & hypocrisy & impudendence of our government in this affair disgust me with the very name of Englishman. We must not think of purchasing more Port wine till the price falls.

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Miss Quillinan

chez Made[Vue] Le Leu

Haute Ville

au dessus de le Porte de Calais-sur-le-rempart

Boulogne sur Mer

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Object summary: WLL / Wordsworth, Dora / 1 / 54