Coleridge, Sara (1802-1852). - Letter, from Hampstead, to William Wardell, at Bank, Chester, dated December 1834 (year from contents). WLMS A / Coleridge, Sara / 35.

Hampstead

December

My dear Mr: Wardell

It was very kind in you, under your present circumstances of anxiety, to write to me so fully & particularly:- I was quite unprepared for the contents of your letter - those I mean which relate to your beloved wife & I will refrain from describing the feelings with which I read your account of her state lest I should disturb that blessed tranquillity which you tell me she enjoys. I will only briefly express my warm affection for her, & my anxious but lively hope that she may yet be restored by time. She has my earnest prayers - and O how thankful I am to learn from you that she has that peace which the world cannot give! her strength of mind united with religious faith (for there must be both to produce so blessed an effect) are enviable, - I wish that, all my suffering friends enjoyed it - I pray that I may attain to it hereafter myself. She is prepared for any event - but how ardently - though perhaps selfishly her many friends, & you above all, must hope & pray that the preparation may only serve to render her the more perfect in the performance of a Christian's duty in this world - that it may only be needed, for many years, in this point of view: & that she may live unto the Lord, bearing her present sufferings with patience & resignation. If I have said anything which might agitate her in the slightest degree do not let her hear it - All I mean to express is my unabated friendship - my hopes & prayers for her recovery, & my great satisfaction in the calmness & piety of her frame of mind. She has always been full of generous feelings & keen sensibility - patience & submission to God's will have not been wanting when they were required.

I know she will be pleased to hear that I am considerably better in all respects, as to my health than when I wrote to her last. But I am still an invalid - I

[page break (2)]

suffer much uneasiness in my back - I can only walk for a few minutes at a time, & cannot sit up for above a quarter of an hour without being quite upset. But thank God! my spirits are now in a natural state, when I have not been over exerting myself - & I sleep in general - without laudanum: though of course my rest at night is more subject to interruption than that of a person whose nerves are in good order. Whether I shall ever be fully restored seems doubtful; but those around me seem to think that I may be so in the end. I would give a great deal to see your two children, who must be highly satisfactory, to judge from the various accounts I have heard of them. Little John's drollery must come from Mr: Crumpe I think - both he & his eldest son have a great deal of humour; which afforded high delight to my brother in former days. I wish I could tell Hartley's dear good friend Elizabeth that he had published anything lately:- he remains at Grasmere & occasionally visits the dear family at Greta hall. My poor Aunt Southey's lamentable illness has caused great affliction there, & has depressed my mother greatly: but the physicians have no doubt of her ultimate recovery, & she is very much better already. We are also anxious about dear Dora Wordsworth, who, as you may have heard by this time, is undergoing the usual discipline for a spine complaint. Bad as this is, Miss Hutchinson says, it is nothing to the fears which her previous state excited: she was growing worse & worse in general health & her family knew not what to apprehend till Mr Carr discovered the state of her back. Her's is an inflammation of the upper part of the spinal ous process - between the shoulders - not like mine a morbid state of the nerves belonging to the spine: however her case is a slight one & high hopes are entertained of her speedy restoration. At present she is much reduced by the blistering which is necessary & to be confined

[page break (3)]

to a couch, "when she is the only person in the house who understands how to manages father's eyes," is a sad penance: however there is great reason to hope that she will rise up from it in a few months & will enjoy better health that she has done for some years.

I am much interested in all you tell me of dear Elizabeth's family; pray remember me very kindly to them all when there is an opportunity. Mr: Crumpe must have parted with Allen Bank not altogether without regret. Sophia must have been a comfort to your dear wife at Cheltenham. I am truly glad that Mrs: Hervey is a happy mother - I wish I could tell you the same news of my dear cousin Edith, now Mrs: Warter & residing in Sussex where her husband has the living of Tarring and Patching. She was confined a few weeks ago & is herself doing well - but alas! she did not save the baby & Mr Warter thinks that anxiety about her mother was the source of this disappointment. My brother Derwent has still only one boy:- a fine little fellow whom my husband saw at Helston this Autumn his mother is in better health than formerly & Derwent is well himself & tolerably prosperous. His character stands high in Cornwall, and as a School master & a Clergyman he seems to be both approved & loved. I wish we could meet often - but the distance precludes this, & also prevents us from seeing our dear friends at Greta hall & Rydal Mount except at very distant intervals. My Uncle Southey meant to have come Southward this Autumn, & to have left Cuthbert - now a handsome youth taller than his father, at Tarring to be prepared for College by Mr Warter - but my Aunt's illness has deranged all his plans. Bertha & Kate Southey are still unmarried & I do not hear of any engagement on their part though of much admiration on the part of others.

I must

[page break (4)]

not conclude without mentioning my dear Mother & children. The former suffered a good deal in health & nerves from the trials of this summer and is still weaker than she used to be - but I think I have seen an improvement in her during the last few weeks; We are rejoiced to hear that my Aunt Lovell is stronger & suffers less than [[-?-]] formerly. Our little ones are both well: Herbert was four years old last October & Edith was two at the end of June: she is a small but plump & rosy child & can of course run about & talk after a funny fashion very well. Herby can read almost anything the subject of which he in any degree understands. He is beginning to write & I hope hereafter will attain to a better hand than his mama, his present teacher has ever done. His papa is about to publish a small volume containing recollections of my Father's conversation. He is quite well himself but anxious about his parents who are in both in a declining and suf-

[page break (4 crossed writing)]

fering state. Mama unites with me in kind regards to yourself and best love with warmest wishes to your dear wife Believe me My dear Mr Wardell Very sincerely Yours Sara Coleridge My husband would send his respects were he at home he read your letter with much sympathy for you.

[page break (1 top of sheet)]

I almost fear this scrawl will be too late to be taken by the gentleman who brought me yours - I have been deceiving myself in regard to the time of his departure.

[page break (4)]

William Wardell Esqre

Bank

Chester

---

Object summary: WLMS A / Coleridge, Sara / 35