Coleridge, Sara (1802-1852). - Letter, from Hampstead, to Elizabeth Wardell (nee Crumpe), at Bank, Chester, dated 4 July 1831.WLMS A / Coleridge, Sara / 28.

Hampstead

July 4th. 1831.

My dearest Elizabeth

A thousand thanks for the acceptable volume as well as your very interesting letter, which you must have had great energy to write at such a time: I rejoice most sincerely in the annunciation of the latter part & hope that your little son may prove the stay of your house & the joy of your heart that he may be a happy compound of yourself & Mr: Wardell, and that he may never be as long separated from his sister as my dear Derwy has been from me. He & his Mary are now lodging opposite to us with their good friend Miss Trevenen: the archdeacon has kindly enabled Derwent to be absent for three weeks from his church a relaxation which he greatly needed & which has brought about the long wished for meeting between his wife & me. With her I am delighted & the more I think of her character & all belonging to her the more I feel the happy conviction that she is cut out to make my brother's comfort & welfare: she has a great deal of decision together with warmth of heart - an easy, though not meek, temper lively unaffected manners & a striking person: the former however are much subdued & the brilliancy of the latter, (whatever her partial spouse may think,) considerably impaired

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by the trials of wedded life; she is still an elegant & pretty girl with fine brown eyes & good features - the cast of her face reminds every one of Sir Peter Lely's pictures: a little more bloom & plumpness though perhaps would render her a beauty though perhaps not that phoenix a regular one; her figure is tall & now very slight - when she was fatter the extreme smallness of her waist procured her the name of hour-glass. The dear little Derwent the second, whom she could not bring to Hampstead this time, is, curiously enough, the picture of my husband with just such rosy cheeks, large black eyes, small mouth & broad nose - I kill two birds at one stone you see by this description: I wish that he & my Herbert could be brought up near each other & be playmates in their happy youthful days. The former goes on thriving & people cry out against the little mama still nursing such a great fatty: I don't think I shall fully wean him till he is ten months old; he will not be nine till the 7th He has had six teeth for a long time & is now restless at night but without fever or aught that can be called poorliness, on the score of another batch that seem to be coming forward. He can say nothing but bab-bab yet - they say that girls are more forward with their tongues than boys - one perhaps of the many fables of the nursery.

My sister Fanny Patteson has been very unfortunate lately; she has lost her youngest child, a fine flourishing creature & has miscarried twice; she has

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three fine healthy admired children however & in regard to worldly prospects her lot is a high one - so that she may still be reckoned among the fortunate. You will soon perhaps see in the papers that another Mrs: Coleridge is added to that already numerous tribe - our cousin Edwin is about to take unto him a wife. I hope she will prove his better half - he is my Uncle Edward's son & has hitherto been a sad wayward youth; insignificant he must ever be but he may be rendered respectable by marriage. My dear cousins in the North give but a sorry account of themselves - they are all in the [tome]-taking flesh-losing spirits wanting line - I quite grieve over their letters. Dear Bertha spent the winter in London but seemed so delicate & so easily knocked up that I rejoiced in her return home although it was provoking that she should be obliged to leave London just before Derwent & Mary arrived here. Of Dora Edith gives me a capital account; she is growing really fat - not so Mrs: John Wordsworth - she is to Gilsland I believe for health - a pain in her back which she complained of filled people with surmises but I believe she who must know best has no expectations of becoming a mama at present & I am glad to hear that Mrs: Jackson is so fortunate in this capacity: I wish I could hear a good report of dear Louisa - pray give my best love to her

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as well as to Sophia.

If the weather is as hot with you as it is here I fear it must be very trying to you: the nursing is a dreadful fatigue during the first fortnight indeed with me it was so for a month almost - I was long in regaining strength, although I had an excellent time. I have now a very satisfactory nurse. I parted with one I had for the first four months: she was a disagreeable airish creature though a clever servant with a great deal of experience - I learnt much from her - both what to avoid in a nurse & how to manage a child. My present nurse is a very respectable trustworthy woman quite as competent to [nurse] the health & comfort of her charge as the other & much more zealous in doing so: in the article of dressing the baby she is not quite so accomplished

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but that is quite a minor consideration; clever [seamstresses] generally hold their heads too high & are so extravagant in their notions that their assistance is dearly bought. In the country matters are very different but this is generally the case in the neighbourhood of London: I must now draw to a conclusion, my dear friend as I must pen another letter forthwith. Derwent is going to write to your brother by a frank - but I know not that it could contain this letter & I cannot bear to delay any longer - expressing my delight at the happy tidings of yours. Pray kiss the babe for me as well as your other darling. We shall walk over to Highgate this morning to see my poor Father who suffers sadly from rheumatism - his walking powers are sadly abridged by this circumstance but his conversation is powerful as ever. My dear husband is wonderfully & has ailed little since his marriage except one week's poorliness at Ottery. His "Notes on the Reform Bill" are much admired by the Anti reformers & talked of by both parties 3300 copies have been sold. Mama sends her kind love to you & unites with me in best regards to Mr Wardell. She is complemented by all as an evergreen & I have hard work to make people believe that her health is really not perfect. I dipped into the work you sent me & was much pleased with what

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I read. I think however many additions might be made to the part which treats of the nursery & young mothers might be warned of many bad practices of nurses not mentioned by Mrs: Parks.

Pray accept my thanks once more & believe me my dearest Elizabeth your truly attached friend Sara Coleridge. How I long to step into your room now & see you & the little stranger & the sweet sister & happy papa: and how I should like to shew you my babe! When will you come to London!

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We have lately had nothing but pleasant accounts of dear Hartley. His friend Mrs Carter will soon be near him - & great comfort and advantage to him.

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<S. Coleridge 4 July 1831>

Mrs: Wardell

Bank

Chester

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Object summary: WLMS A / Coleridge, Sara / 28