Wordsworth, Dora (1804-1847) & Wordsworth, Mary (1770-1859). - Letter, from Rydal Mount, to Edward Quillinan (1791-1851), at Lee Priory, dated 8 November 1833. WLL / Wordsworth, Dora / 1 / 55

Rydal Mount

Friday Nov 8th

My dear Mr Quillinan,

I do not quite do your bidding as to answering your letter by return of post because it was received on Friday - and tho' I write today I shall not send it off till tomorrow when I may be able to give you some tidings of our Herefordshire friends from whom we have been looking for letters many days past. You can little tell the anxiety that has filled this house for many weeks past, & which alas still continues, for my Fathers poor eyes - the evening of the day on which I last wrote to dear Mima an attack of violent inflammation came on in the left eye which produced specks & opacity of the Cornea he completely lost the sight for many days & his medical attendants spoke but very guardedly as to the sight ever being restored to it - but God in his mercy blest the means which they employed - & all was going on well as possible sight restored &c &c - but the day before yesterday when out in the garden the wind wh was very strong must have touched the eye - for the inflammation returned tho' in a much milder form & the cornea is again affected & he can barely see with that eye we are assured however this attack will soon be got under but it makes him very nervous & very anxious & you may guess what we feel. His general health is wonderfully good

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when one considers how sparingly he eats - the little outdoor exercise he takes & the perpetual blisters that have been kept up behind the ears for nearly two months I think - & he is very patient on the whole but we have some difficulty in keeping up his spirits - but enough & a great deal too much on this melancholy subject & how unless I go beyond this house I am to find a more cheerful one I cannot tell - for dear Aunt has been ill again & in bed which she has not left for more than a fortnight - she is however much better today & we hope in a few days she may be able to sit up a short time - My Mother is well as her anxieties will allow & she will speak for herself on the other side the sheet & give the opinion of the wise heads on Lee or Boulogne - I know which I wish as children say but that's nothing

The fair Edith is not yet married - & I dont pity her for the delay as her lover is living at Greta Hall where he has been since Augst & I suspect Lovers are much more agreeable Creatures then Husbands - Poor Sara Coleridge I have not named her to you for a long long time not that I forgot her but I thought you had sorrows & troubles enough of your own without distressing you with those of your friends. She is in a melancholy state I fear so weak she can only sit up for a few minutes at a time - the fact is she never recovered her strength after the birth of her little girl (June twelve month) the weakness

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fell upon her nerves & for many months she was in most deplorable condition & now tho' so weak in body her spirits are greatly improved & she & her poor husband are look forward with hope to the birth of a third Infant in the early spring - Mr Coleridge is on the whole much better I dare say you may have heard of his visit to Cambridge at the meeting of the "Wise men" Cambridge reminds me of my Cousins - John is wintering at Rome Charles at Leipsic - & Chris: happy at Trinity in spite of an irreparable loss he has sustained - all his Greek & Italian collections books medals bronzes models &c - by ship wreck off Guernsey - I had a letter from London John today who is cheering himself with the expectation of a sight of you, a false hope I fear held out to him by Mr Stone whose pictures are arrived & are delightful! - yours such a likeness - as good as Pick's of Father - Your little Girls are fortunate in the possession of such a likeness of their Father - & we in having the loan of it for a while my Father likes it much as a painting except the back ground which he complains of as dingy too much of a London smoke colour - Mima is lovely & Anna said when she first saw it - "Miss Quillinan is as pretty as she can be" - but then I am sure she cant be half as nice as Miss Rotha" - you would be entertained did you know how jealous this picture of Mima has made them all in the Kitchen where Rotha is considered the very Queen of Darlings - Of course we can give an opinion

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on Mr Stone's picture as a likeness - but it is a lovely thing beautiful picture & I am never wearied with looking upon so sweet & pure & lovely a thing - & I can see traces of what she was three years ago especially about the eyes - I wish our rooms had been larger & loftier for their sakes as they are not hung as advantageously as they ought to be - They are however a great delight to us & we Thankfully give them the best wall room we have till you recall them - Rotha's was copied by a Miss Wetherall a sort of very distant Cousin of my Fathers - the fault you speak of in the mouth is no fault of Boxall's but the length of the head is - it has frequently been noticed; by my Mother & Mrs Keate especially - I do wish the copy had been more worthy of the original but that is so excellent I always despaired of getting any thing done worth sending you - Mr Quillinan I did not say you had no mountains only none of our mountains -

Ivy Cottage has again proved itself worthy of its name "The Rydal Wife Trap" Our knightly Widower has won the heart of the gentle widow, Lady Farquhar & they are to be married early in Feby - She is still at Fox Ghyll where she remains till the middle of next month then goes up to town to settle affairs Cyril follows in due time - & I believe the honey moon is to be past at the foot of the hill. We think in all probably this sweet Cottage will be in the market again ere long - it is not large enough for "Ladies' Maids" &c - & we see not how it can be greatly added too without quite destroying its character besides the ground on wh it stands is not fit for any thing like a mansion

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The Pasleys are stationary & likely to be so - the Godwins still at Spring Cottage Mrs Luff full as ever of selling her house - Dr Arnolds getting on famously & really a very handsome building - The Parrys at Grasmere & meaning to remain there till Spring - excellent people they are - The Cooksons are in sad affliction having lost their Father of Cholera in the Isle of Man - dear Elizabeth for whom the beautiful summer had worked such wonders is thrown back again & I fear we shall not be allowed to keep her long with us - The last two months Death has been very busy among our friend & acquaintances we have lost no less than nine from 70 years of age to three and twenty - Lionel Frayer was one - a youth of whom you must have heard us speak only twenty five - a clergyman & leaving a beautiful widow just twenty one & daily expecting to become a Mother - by the way he was Charlotte Smiths Grand-nephew & She is Sister to Edward Curwen's wife - They are going on happily & prosperously at Moresby but I fear I must sicken all my friends with my long histories of the connubial bliss in that quarter I am under promise of a visit to my niece, & to the Turtledoves at Greta Hall & I ought to have been at Leamington with the Hooks ere this - but of course I cannot even dream of leaving home as we are now situated nor shall I do so until Father can go too - we are very anxious that he should have the best advice I fear however it will be long before he can travel with safety - the season of the year being so much against him - Dear Man! he is not allowed to see his neighbours

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he cant read he may not think - he ought not to doze in the day which he is sure to do when he is read to - & he cant walk in the garden when the sun is bright or when the air is sharp or when the wind is high - You say I am to give you "all possible information about him" - so I will make no excuse for again recurring to the subject -

Pray give my tenderst love to your Darlings - it was very good natured in them writing to me by you & I shall be delighted to receive their letter - We have no M.P.s in this neighbourhood or I would have enclosed a few lines for them - it is for them however better as it is - for what with receiving all the kind people that call to enquire after the Invalids - answering notes, & letters - reading to him - petting him & nursing him Mother & I have so much to do that our wits are quite a wandering & our Scrawls can be scarcely intelligible to elder heads & this you must receive as an excuse & Believe me ever your faithful & affectionate friend

Dora Wordsworth

Saturday Morning - they tell us the Eye is going on well & to be sure he suffers no pain in it but he can see nothing with it - & it looks frightfully inflamed we must however be hopeful - certainly it was a hundred times worse a month age & it recovered from that attack - Aunt is much better this morning -

Will you ask the children when they next write to me just to draw on their sheet of paper the outline of the sole of your shoe - not of a great walking shoe - but of a house shoe or slipper.

No news from Brin[]

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[Mary Wordsworth's hand] No my dear friend, you are not "out of favour with me" as your Picture in the Study can witness - but if you knew the number of stupid duty letters I have to write in answer to enquiries those from dear Dorothy's Correspondents & Enquirers since her ready pen was laid aside you would not only forgive, but thank me for sparing you. And, I am sure you are a gainer by my silence & think you are favoured by Dora taking you of my hands.

Regarding the question put to the "Divan" what can I say - you well know that we never relished the darlings being brought up among the "French folk" - but there they are, & if they are to return in the Spring - it seems of little consequence (if they do not dislike crossing the Channel) whether they pass the winter at Lee or Boulogne - further then they will see their Relatives - as to Lee (as far as they are concerned) being a "gloomy haunt" - is nothing - they will with you be happy any where - but it must be a dull place for yourself to be confined to - Therefore I should say, be guided by what is likely to [[-?-] [-?-]] suit your own inclinings

God bless you all! - What a sweet Picture dear Mimas is - it makes me jealous when I think of Ro's - Dora will have told you that it is at Carlisle, & has been since yours arrived - ever affly yours M.W.

Edward Quillinan Esqre

Lee Priory

Wingham

Kent

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Object summary: WLL / Wordsworth, Dora / 1 / 55