Coleridge, Sara (1802-1852). - Letter, from an unstated address, to Mary Stanger (1804-1890), at St. Anne's Hill, Wandsworth, Surrey, dated 25 October 1834 (franked; Mary Stanger has written '1834-Oct 24'). WLMS Moorsom / 55 / 1 / 9

My dear Mary

Henry tells me that Joshua left his card at his chambers- I am sorry they did not meet, for Wandsworth, as you know, is beyond his calling beat. Indeed he has his head and hands so full at present that he has no time for even shorter excursions than that. You talked of coming to see me on your return from dear old Keswick, & I have been hoping to see you, while the weather was so fine or to receive an intimation on the subject. Whenever Mrs. Midford can come so far as Hampstead we shall be very glad indeed to see her & I hope that I may some day make an excursion to her part of Middlesex but at present I continue unwell to return the visit even of near neighbours. I received your answer to my announcement of our grievous loss while I was in town; - about the same time I heard from Mrs. Capt. Southey who said how satisfactory it was to her that she had spent a day in my Father's company last Autumn- she mentioned that her daughter Mary, had joined her father & brothers in Demerara. I also saw Mrs. Dr. Southey- a frank well-bred gentlewomanly person, whose countenance & manners I liked much. She gave me a charming account of Edith, and all

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belonging to her. She thought her husband an excellent person & loveable upon acquaintance, but unyouthfully grave in manner. He is zealous in his profession and very eager that Edith should be a patten Pastor's wife;- her Aunt seemed to think that she is sometimes overfatigued by her manifold occupations without & within. This ought not to be- for health once lost is not easily regained- but I trust she will listen to the Doctor though she would not to me & her Aunt. The Parsonage is pretty & furnished with taste & the garden very flourishing. The young Wester is expected in November. I hope that anxiety on her mother's account will not make her go through the trials that await her any the worse. This is a summer of awful events in our families of my poor dear Aunt Southey we hope soon to have better tidings as there are many favourable circumstances in her case and if she regains her health as speedily as we are led to expect she will proceed with her family to Tarring. The last account of my poor dear Uncle- father was very alarming & I fear I shall not see my sister early in November as usual-

While I was in London the heat of the weather tired

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me a good deal & I was thrown back by an influenza. Since my recovery from that I have been gradually improving- I can sleep without laudanum & the hysterical affections are greatly abated- My spirits are calm when I do not attempt bodily exertion- but the local weakness in the nerves of the spine does not give way in the same proportion that the general irritation has done. Still I am somewhat stronger than when you saw me last, & am able to be constantly employed. I am sorry to say that my dear mother is more weak & nervous at this time than I have ever known her. Anxiety may be partly the cause of this ebb in her general health, & part of it may be ascribed to her added years. She is still very active but I often beg and pray her & so does Henry to moderate some of her activities, for she is always disordered in some measure when she goes beyond a certain point of exertion. Our little ones may still be called healthy children upon the whole. Herby has had the complaints of the season & Edy suffers from nettle rash; but she is stronger than she was and

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she bears the teasing complaint without fretting or mighty lamentations. After our return to Hampstead Henry spent 3 or 4 weeks in Devonshire & Cornwall and then proceeded to revise North Wilts. His report of our Helleston friends was very interesting to us at home. The new school building he said did credit to my brothers taste & would be ornamental to the town. He thought most highly of his scholarship and accurate searching method of instruction, and regrets that the distance prevents our brother & sister from sending their boys to him. Mr. Powles, a Columbian Merchant, whose name is well known in the city, a very able man, & Mr. Patterson have overcome this difficulty, but I own it will be one to me, although I am as desirous as Henry is that our Herby should be under Derwent's care. Mr. Powles was so delighted with his preaching that he said it was worth while to take the long journey in order to hear it. Mary, Derwent's wife, is in tolerable health but not strong. She is a very popular person as well as her husband & their boy is a most affectionate but manly child. He is just six years old &

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our Herby was four on the 7th of this month. Derwent is anxious to have Hartley with him for a long indefinite visit, and I wish the scheme may be put into execution- the brothers would enjoy each other's conversation and Hartley would be the better for living in an affectionate domestic circle. But he has many advantages where he is in being within reach of Greta Hall and Rydal Mount: and his hostess is a good creature & much attached to him.

I have been much employed of late in answering letters from various friends of ours who were very desirous to have particulars of my dear Father's last days upon earth. His memory still occupies a prominent place in our thoughts, and we daily seem to feel our bereavement more and more as fresh testimonies to his rare and excellent qualities arise from without or are furnished by our own remembrances. We were accustomed to look to him for enlightenment on every subject of interest, and as Henry often says with emotion, we never shall listen to his like again. There was everything however in the circumstances of his death to sooth our sorrow and since his departure the respect and affection- I may truly say the veneration that has been expressed for his memory both in public & private has of course mingled a sweetness in the cup. We feel happy too in the conviction that his writings have been & will be still more influential for good purposes. It is not to be expected that productions which demand continuous attention and some effort of mind to be understood can be immediately popular- the works of master spirits are not perused by the bulk of society whose feelings they tincture and whose belief they contribute to form or modify:- it is through intervening channels that sublime truths originally the deductions of subtlety and learning, are diffused among persons of various age station and capacity- that "they become the hereditary property of childhood and of poverty, of the workshop and the hovel", and thus produce the greatest practical benefits to society at large. On these grounds it is believed by many intelligent readers that my Father's Christian Philosophy will prove a boon to the world. and "to do good was his anxious desire- his constant prayer". Most of the leading Periodicals and a crowd of minor ones have been putting out criticism on his poetry and remarks on his life & character: these papers are fully of lofty eulogies, & some of them contains affectionate tributes to his Christian piety, humility, & benevolence; yet they are, as you may imagine, a sort of ordeal to our feelings, and those which enter on personal details are not to be trusted. Mr. Dequincy's conduct in commenting as he has chosen to do on my Father's domestic concerns has excited the indignation of our friends. That which is laid before the Public may be publicly dealt with, but it is unjustifiable to discuss that which is of a private nature in print, without permission of the parties, even if it could be done with perfect accuracy, and without those mis-statements & false colourings with which Mr. Dequincey's Paper abounds. He knew for what market he was providing and seasoned his dish accordingly. It is grievous indeed to see a man of his high order of intellect & gentlemanly education descending to pamper the depraved appetite of the Public for personality & gossip which he ought to have used his best talents & energies to correct. Of my Fathers genius & mode of discourse he has written with eloquence and discrimination, and I know not any one who is better qualified to appreciate his powers & attainments in a certain line than the gentleman in question. While we were in the town Henry heard Mr Herand deliver an oration on the occasion of my Father's death. It was eloquent & enthusiastic: Herand is a man of considerable power but we do not consider his zealotry [[-?-]] to be very judicious. He seems incline to take the Stewardship of my Father's fame all into his own hands. I believe no literary man was ever more regardless of Fame than my Father, and as Henry often observes few if any can have made more converts and disciples by reasoning powers or more deeply attached friends by goodness & amiable manners. His picture by Allston I fear will not be in the family. It is a fine painting- Mr Wade to whom it belongs meant to leave it to my Father had he survived him. The portrait by Phillips is by no means equal to it. Some notes of my Father's on the margins of books perished in the Bristol Fire to our great regret. Our friends in Palace Yard were much alarmed during the awful burning of Houses Public and private in their neighbourhood. Till one o clock they thought

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the house must share the fate of the speaker's. Frances says that her Father is the only Clerk who has a wig & gown saved to attend Prorogation. Mr H Taylor with other friends was helping them to remove their goods and chattels & "very properly seized on Mr Southey's picture in the first place"- She adds that she never saw anything to equal the propriety of police conduct.

I saw her & Mrs. Rickman on their return from the North- My Aunt was ill when they were at G.H. but spoke cheerfully of Edith & her prospects. But I believe that sorrow on account of her children, the loss of some & thought of parting with others has long been undermining her health. Frances & Anne seem much struck with the graceful figure & bright face of Cuthbert, who is now an inch taller than his Papa. I have heard that he was admired at Lowther. Dear Miss Wordsworth seems likely to be restored, with God's blessing, to a comfortable degree of health. Miss Hutchinson was looking well & talked agreably as every when we saw her in the Summer. Lady Paisley says that the new Wordsworth is a noble infant. I am glad it is a boy as the elder child is a little maid. My sister Fanny is still at the Warden house & I am looking eagerly for her return; but my Aunt's awful seizures & my Uncle's precarious state makes me uncertain [[-?-]] when I shall see her. The improvement in the health of Aunt Lovell & my sister Mary John is marvellous. The last time I saw Bishop Coleridge he was full of his Debates with the Church Missionary Society- in November he sails for his foreign Diocese & is perhaps the last English Bishop who will every be sent thither, unless Providence brings about the salvation of the Establishment by ways past man's finding out. His wife has resolved on returning with him & will take the baby girl to the Tropics again- but a said trial awaits the parents- they must leave their little Willy behind; he is a fine boy to look upon but too delicate in constitution to bear the voyage and West Indian climate. I hope you will Write soon & that you are able to give a good report of your husband & brothers. How is Raisley?- I should rejoice to hear that his health is on the rise again, and that William's does not suffer from the Torrid Zone. Is not the Deacon considered more favourable to English constitutions than Bengal? The latter is damp as well as hot, which is very prejudicial to the nervous system.

I hope the Doctor is prosperous as ever. Such weather as this must try an old and ailing man like Lord Spencer- but I suppose he looks on your brother as his earthly guardian, With best regards to Joshua & his Mary of course in which Mama joins & to your brothers when you write I remain my dear Mary your affectionate friend

Sara Coleridge Too late for post on Friday.

My cousin Robert is looking so well that I wish his mother could see him. He happened to dine with us and with Mr James Gillman the day after the fire which he had seen in all its fury and in all its glory, and gave us a full account of. I wish I could go to Highgate to see my Fathers old haunts, the Table and inscription of his of his dear well known room. Mr Green has had a beautiful picture taken of it and we are to have an engraving.

I wish Mrs Gee or Miss Hoare could induce Dora to visit the South. I believe she & her friends [[?]] the approach of quiet winter they have so much company to entertain during the fine part of the year. We are grievously disappointed that we are not to see my Uncle and cousins so soon as we expected.

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Saturday, We have very bad news from Ottery of our dear Father, and Henry has set out for Devonshire on receipt of this letter. We are most anxious for his report.

[[?]] to her Father few men so regardless of Fame as her Father Dequinceys writings on her Father on his genius & writings, he is good but too fond of gossip. Fire of the House of Parliament Rob Lovell Derwent- Col Coleridge ill

Mrs. Joshua Stanger St. Anne’s Hill Wandsworth Surrey-

1834- Oct 24-

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