Coleridge, Sara (1802-1852). - Letter, from an unstated address, to Mary Stanger (1804-1890), at St. Anne's Hill, Wandsworth, Surrey, dated 25 March 1835 (dated in pen in Mary Stanger's hand 'March 25 1835'; franked MR.28 1835). WLMS Moorsom / 55 / 1 / 10

My dear Mary, (You will excuse a sheet ruled for my young scribbler)

A few hours before I received your letter of last night I was editing the beginning of one to you in my mind, and should soon have made time to put one upon paper, even if you had continued silent, for I recollected that if I was the last writer you were the last caller, and I fear it will be long ere I can correspond with you in that way.

Often on a very fine day, when there has been a rattle up to the gate, a full stop, and a tingle, I have fancied that I might be about to see an old friend from Wandsworth, and I should have written long ago to remind you of your promise to come and see me soon again, and to enquire for your brother, of whose weakened health I heard from my Uncle S. with the greatest concern, but that I have been as much occupied of late in various ways as my little strength will allow- I have an unwieldy correspondence which I scarcely know how to reduce to maneagable compass- and just now I have a long pen-and-ink task to get through, but one which though it wearies my back and arms I should be sorry to relinquish- I mean transcribing marginal notes of my Father's which Henry's Clerk cannot do without continually interrupting his busy Master for directions. I am sorry you have only a gig at present as it will prevent your coming to H. till the weather is decidedly summerish: but I hope you will pay us a long morning, lunching visit, with Joshua, as soon as you possibly can. I am always glad of a previous line from you when you know beforehand of a Hampstead jaunt because I sometimes take an early drive in a Fly or friends carriage: but if you have an unprepense inclination or opportunity for the journey do not hesitate to come on this account, for I am not very

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often absent. What you say of Dr Calvert rather relieves my mind than otherwise for going to Madeira sounds ominous. I knew you could not have heard from him yet, but meant to beg you, which I now do, to let me know how he is as soon as you have a report from the sunny Island. He will there meet with some old acquaintances in the Tom Spedding family- I heard that they have found the place very dull; your brother's arrival will be a windfall for them.

The good account of myself which you have heard from K. I can fully confirm my spirits are quite reestablished, or at least nothing by over exertion on my part makes them fail; I sleep well in general, though last night was an exception to this blessed rule. I have taken no laudanum since I saw you last. The sticking-place is the nervo-muscular weakness which is chiefly in my back- but even in this respect I make some progress towards health, though the advance, as Bertha would say- is very "gra-du-el". I can walk in the garden for seven or eight minutes at a time, & sit up- uneasily- for nearly an hour, and if I proceed at this rate shall be <an> active loco-motioner at the end of two or three years. I have great reason to thank God- on the score of health both on my own account and that of all the dear ones around me. Of my mother I still hear the constant remark- looking no older & extremely well for her years. Not that she is without sufferings and annoyances in her corporeal tenement- but as Henry told Derwent in his last letter we are thankful to perceive that she has no rudiments about her of any complaint which must terminate in grievous and painful infirmity. My dear husband has very comfortable health upon the whole, though I am sorry to say he is often fagged with his journeys to & from Chambers- in addition to the head- work and hand- work which he has to go through there- however he is in fine spirits about me, & not in bad heart about his profession- his literary undertakings bring credit- though as Mr Wordsworth says we should like a little of the tangible in addition to that interesting abstraction- But Henry is one of those who thinks that literature, pursued worthily, is its own

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reward, and as he is of contented disposition, and heartily enjoys the superior prosperity of his friends and brothers, he can wait for "the nice house in Regent's Park- with plenty of book shelves" which <we> are to have some day or other without being at all out of humour in the mean time. Our children continue as ruddy, and sturdy as when you saw them last, and are upon the whole satisfactory in body & not unsatisfactory in mind- I mean as to promise. They are not as much healthier than the average as they are rosier, and I trust they will not be as much more unmanageable in the long run as they are bearish in company just at present.

The reports of my poor aunt Southey, a few weeks ago, were such as to raise our hopes greatly in regard to her speedy restoration; but we have just been reading a melancholy note of my dear Uncle's from York in which he says - "my coming here has done little good- except that it has made me clearly understand that no farther benefit can be expected from her remaining here, and the only hope now is that by a return to her habitual occupations at home her mind may be brought into a better course. We first go to Scarborough &c" I still think there is reason to believe that she may be restored in course of time- but I speak ignorantly. The dear girls at Greta Hall have borne their cross admirably, as I am assured by witnesses, and their letters lead me to think that they are as full of genuine piety as of deep feeling. As to my Uncle- his heart has long been in Heaven- he is cheerful- even playful in the daily intercourse of life, but you cannot converse very seriously with him for any length of time before you are made fully sensible that his most cherished hopes and most deep felt longings are not concerning the things of this world. Indeed he never acts as if earthly blessings and possessions had any great hold upon his time mind. He spent a day- (the latter half of the day) here with Cuthbert during his short stay in town; his look and conversation we all of us thought more than ever interesting, and we were charmed with Cuppon who is as tall & slender as a holly-hock;- in manner though very simple- less unpolished than most lads of 16- and [[?]] a genteel pleasing but

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certainly peculiar youth. He is now at Tarring whither his father proceeded with him. My Uncle found Edith looking just as when she left K. which was rather thinner than is becoming <to her> he liked the parsonage- and the parson's library and still more the parson's conduct and reputation- but thought Tarring (inhabitants not included) "a nasty place," I have heard from the Richman's that the Abp of C. speaks of Mr. Warter "as a star among the Sussex Clergy." He divides his Parish into four walks and does all things methodically. He was charmed with James- now Dr- Coleridge's Advice to a Young Parish Priest, We hear great things of our brother John's first circuit as Judge and Henry has received a letter out of Staffordshire full of remarks of Lords Gentry & Farmers on the subject- all eulogistic in the extreme. I have always thought that John's mind was more of a judicial than of an advocatory cast- my thoughts on such a point would not be worth repeating except that they happen to coincide with what now seems to be a proved matter for he has certainly made more impression on the public by his Addresses and Charges as Judge than he ever did by his pleadings as Counsel- though he would not be on the bench now if he had not been considered a sound lawyer, & had not possessed a high reputation with the Bar- for he had not a shadow of interest. His wife is looking extremely well, & is very happy in having more of her husband's company than formerly- as he is <not> now obliged to be late in Chambers & in general need not leave his fireside after a late dinner. Mary dined here lately with her four young people- (a niece lives with them at present)- and all the party looked merry & pleased- but they have not colour enough among them to cover half a rose leaf. My sister Fanny is at Ottery, & this visit will I fear prove one too many for her health. The sad state of her parents keeps her full of trouble and anxiety and increases an infection of her throat on deleted arising, I suppose from nervous debility. She continually loses her voice for days at a time,

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and is weak and tremulous altogether. She will leave her promising Coley at school at Ottery, when she returns to town in about a fortnight. The distance prevents any of the young Cs or Ps being sent to my brother Derwent, who however is prospering well & expects an addition to his family in June. The three young [[?]] are satisfactory pupils. The Bp of Barbados- (Uncle William)- I expect to see today- he is kind & cousinly in coming to Hampstead pretty often but when he is here he tells father tales, and has no time for clerical ones. I hear from Henry however that he is pleased with the Ch. M. Society, as they with him- and is glad that they have at least acceded to <the substance> of what he proposed to them two years ago. His old friend the Bp of Winchester has had no small hand, I believe, in bringing about the present arrangement,

What do I think of your becoming conservative members of the community? Why this- that you would act b very inconsistently with your professed views and principles if you were did not, and that you cross over the way in excellent company. There is Henry's accomplished friend Mr. Merivale- all his life till now a staunch Whig- he published in Blackwood under the title of- "Liberal Whig"- and the drift of his paper is to shew that old liberty men & present-crisis conservatives are one and the same to all intents and purposes. This is one of the many instances among persons of our acquaintance Conservative! How can any of the landed and funded interest be otherwise than conservative, how can any good Englishman strive to make O Connell King of England as well as of Ireland- how can any good Churchman join in the Crusade against the Church? You have always thought that the interests of the Establishment & of Christianity in this country- are to a great extent united, & none but an ostrich, with its head in the sand, or the man who jumped into the quick set hedge. (I speak not of moles or buzzards- for they are not really blind) can imagine that if you once thrust in the narrow end of the wedge- (secularization of church property in Ireland) a compact and indefatigable band of conspirators will not drive on the lever till they have overthrown the goodly fabric of ages and brought poor Mother Church to the beggarliness of voluntary contributions. Look at America! is the cry of both parties. We have looked at her Friends!- cry the Conservatives- and we cannot like her. as to her religious conditions at least: besides are the circumstances of the two countries at all similar? I fear there is

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a large body of persons in this country, who regard the Church just as the Mother in the Old Testament did the child she claimed as her own- They too cry "Let it be divided!" They would rather see it rent in twain than not under their own rule and governance, <I> allude to the Dissenters- but not to all of them- No! I cannot think it inconsistent in those who have cursed reform to resist destruction under the name of it, nor in those who opposed certain popular claims before the passing of the Reform Bill to modify their policy with some sort of reference to that- which is now become the law of the land. Mr. and Mrs. Cobbold- (Mrs Co.& Judge Patterson's sister) are now at Hampstead- visiting Mr Patterson- formerly of Clapton. Mr. C. has been obliged to come up on account of the late Ipswich Election- he having been returning officer on that occasion- & that right of the present Members to their seats being questioned by Mr Rigby Coason Aunt Eliza's boy Peter. He is rather an unruly boy now- from all that I hear of his proceedings. But I cannot wish him success in his present undertaking- be that as it may- for he is a great Church destroyer- & player into the hands of Hume & O Connell. Well when I took up my pen I had no notion that I should destroy so much paper as I am like to do ere this sheet is properly enveloped and directed. It is so long since I have scribbled to you that much matter has accumulated- but I ought to be about some thing else now. You may have heard that Aunt Martha is staying at Greta Hall & Aunt Eliza is there-

Mr Wordsworth is looking old and thin- but is vigorous enough in mind & we shall soon see a new volume of his presently. Mrs W. also looks old- but benevolent as ever. You seem to be fearfully in the dark my dear Mary- about Rydal Mount affairs. Have

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you not heard that poor Dora has been quite of a condition to jaunt up to London for the last four or five months? I think it was in Oct. or Nov. last that Mr Carr discovered the source of her declining health- or at least a strong symptom, in the morbid state of the upper part of her spine. By bleeding & blistering the inflammation was subdued between the shoulders but broke out again below. Her parents have been consulting Broadie & Holland, but what can they say or propose about a poor back which they cannot see with their eyes and feel with their hands? B. & K. are now at Rydal- and say she is decidedly better- Her spirits are excellent- all the strong measures have not shaken her nervous system- but her appetite is at a low ebb indeed- she lives on prison fare, bread & water. Miss W. is confined to her bed- but full of life of mind and kindly interest for the dear friends of this world whom she is wellaware that she may probably very soon take a last leave of- My dear old friend Mrs Wardell is in a decline & I fear I shall never see her again. You would think the "satisfactory mind" of our children was a mother's version if you had heard a dialogue between Herby & grandmama which took place just now on the stairs. "Well Sir-why did Miss Edy make such an outcry just now?" "Why she had a stick of mine- and she would not give it up- so<at last> I took it from her by force." "That is very naughty then", "Miss was so naughty". she snarled snarled and screamed so- and cried ah! ah! ah!" I wonder how any parent can doubt the scripture doctrine of original sin, or not be otherwise anxious to believe in that and the heavenly remedy. I must now conclude praying you to come with your spouse- any day except next Tuesday- as soon as you can with comfort and convenience

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Give my very kind regards to Joshua & pray let me know what you hear of John I am sorry that you cannot speak more decidely well of Raisley's health & hope your fears for Wm will not be verified- I can feel for you on that subject- Now nurse is gone off without taking my letter to the post- well it can wait till tomorrow. My brother Hartley- is staying with Mr Wilson at Ottery. Mr J. Spedding says he has a 2nd vol of poems nearly ready for the press. Henry's "Table Talk of S.T. Coleridge" will soon be published. Mama sends kind regards to you & your spouse & hopes to see you soon.

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Aunt E. was warmly pressed to accompany her sister to G.H. but dreaded the voyage too much to go. Mrs. Wordsworth fears that Mrs. J.W. will lose her once fine flourishing baby-boy. I should like to hear [[?]] Mrs Kennedy's daughters

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Bishop C. has bought my Father's picture by Phillips- we are glad it is in the family- but 80 guineas is above our mark even to gain such an heir-loom. I think I would rather possess that by Allston even than this though it is reckoned to be a good likeness. Remember me to Mrs Midford & remind her of her promise to take an opportunity of coming to Hampstead.

Mrs Joshua Stanger St Anne’s Hill Wandsworth Surrey.

March 25. 1835

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Object summary: WLMS Moorsom / 55 / 1 / 10