Coleridge, Sara (1802-1852). - Letter, from Eton, to Edward Quillinan (1791-1851), at William Wordsworth's Esqre, Rydal Mount, near Ambleside, Westmoreland, dated 24 October 1843. WLMS A / Coleridge, Sara / 42.

Eton

Octbr 24 1843

My dear Mr. Quillinan

Instead of answering your letter, received yesterday I ought to be answering American letters received many months ago - but - to the Americans I have every thing to say and yet nothing - a world of topics open before me - where to chuse, with scarce any special inducement to chuse one more than another, - whereas to you I seem to have a few little things to say, (quite unimportant certainly, - so pray don't put down anything, you may be about, to read this note at once and get at its deeply concerning contents-) a few little things which, if I say them not to you, and dear Dora, I shall to no one.

First let me tell you both how truly glad I am that Dr Ferguson's thinks M rs John Wordsworth's state yet within the range of favourable chance and change

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that he evinces this - I mean the sincerity of what he has expressed on the subject - by sending her to Lisbon. He is not a man, I imagine, who would send a patient abroad to die - he must think her case one that yet admits of recovery, so far as appears to his medical eye. I shall look with anxiety for reports of her, and as she feels able to bear the fatigue of such an expedition, the advantage of so much milder a climate than ours must be well with any effort or sacrifice of money to obtain. She will there have warmth without humidity - in England we cannot procure the one without the relation of the other.

Dear Mrs Wordsworth's spirits must indeed have been severely tried of late by John's trials, the blow of her beloved sister's death, & now this last trouble of the faithful Jane's [[-?-]] illness and removal. The loss of a really good and attached servant is severe enough, - but Jane's state of health had previously been such that I suppose Mrs Wordsworth is

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relieved of a care by her departure, rather than put to any difficulty or inconvenience by it.

One part of your health report I was able to read with pleasure; - that relating to Rotha - her case I had really bestowed what some one would call a disproportionate attention upon. Perhaps I had more fellow feeling with her, dear girl, than some can have or than others would own to. I felt how much rather, at her age, I would have endured inward pain that outward disfigurement, and am sincerely rejoiced to hear of her being free almost - & probably about to be free altogether - from the latter annoyance. I scarce know why it is that I feel far more moved by the griefs of childhood and of youth, than those of middle-age. One has a sense, I suppose, that the young have a sort of right to happiness, - or [rather] to gladsomeness and enjoyment - that if they are ever to be gay and pretty then is the time. Sor-

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row and sallow cheeks come to one at my time of life not unnaturally. Reflection has preceded them - and ought at least to have enabled the fading mourner to look beyond them - to see a new world wherein dwelleth righteousness, and to drown in its lustre, super induced over the worsening remnant of our earthly life, all its own melancholy hues. The comparative health & beauty of those who have fairly parted with youth is but a poor thing at the best - But you will laugh at my moralizing on the subject of beauty - at least if you do not bear in mind that I am not thinking of that which we ascribe to a beauty - the admired of the ball-room - the celebrated toast, - but rather of that general attribute which the Psalmist

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must have referred to when he complained so heavily, that his beauty was wasted for very trouble. We all have, or have had beauty - though we are not all beauties. Apropos to which latter clause of my sentence, since coming to this shifting scene of my brother Edwards house, in which fresh faces succeed one another faster than in a shewman's box, I have seen Mrs Norton. By the by it is curious - how seldom handsome women have handsome children - I suppose, because they are snapped up by rich ugly men. So it is however. Among the greatest beauties I have ever seen are Mrs Mac-Niven, & this Mrs Norton, - and their boys are among the plainest and ungainliest of Etona's foster children. Beauty like many other things upon which questions may be raised, is to be judged by its effects - I will tell you an effect in the present case - amusingly striking. Edward had been depreciating Mrs Norton down to the ground before she made her appearance;- He thought of her only as a woman of a certain age - and most uncertain reputation - the mother of a sallow boy who will never make his tutorial name shine forth at College examinations - his mind being as unbrilliant as his complexion and as heavy & inelastic as his figure. After one glance - or rather gaze (for Mrs N's eyes are made for gazing rather than glancing) - of her dark eyes - the "great flaunting woman" - as E. had just been calling her by anticipation, might have affirmed with entire truth nous avons changé tout cela - Now the tune was "I do like Mrs Norton for her tenderness about her children: - she's a monstrous handsome woman! - a pretty deal handsomer than I expected to find her." Dr Hawtrey too bowed down to the ground at the sight of her - and asked her with great empressement to dinner - for, who would be so dull as to criticise - or unfavourably bear in mind, anything thought said or done by the very handsomest woman in the world? One or two

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2) spectators did not understand Mrs N's beauty - for even beauty requires to be understood & does not bring taste and understanding for the beholder along with it: but I was not disappointed [such] taste have I !! You know how my dear Henry's judgment was partly bribed by the mere sight of her picture; I think he would have been less moved by the original, because though her face is finer than that of the portrait - it is less youthful soft & feminine: it is the very face of an oriental Sultana, - a Circussian beauty, with the intellectual refinement of an English poetess, & the air of a high London [fashionist] added unto it. There is nothing - however to my mind - loveable in Mrs Nortons countenance - nothing simple, lifesome and affectionate; - she gives me the notion of a finished coquette, who sacrifices almost everything to vanity - far more than to passion. This would be harsh if it were meant to be taken as a complete character of poor Mrs N. I believe it to be true in a general way, and that such an outline would describe that which is most striking and distinctive about her: - but doubtless she has a heart, and cares for her boys really, notwithstanding all her [[?]] of maternal affection. Her husband, P. says, is an odious disgusting man. A very weak inconsistent man he certainly must be. After persecuting & dishonoring his beautiful wife to the utmost of his power he now seems coming half round to her, because the world is come almost all round to her. He now lets her manage the children, and writes to her every other day. As to her poetess-ship - she certainly is a clever versifier, but the chief acceptability of her poems consists in their being imbued with the personal character & circumstances of the authoress - which merit is not of a lasting kind. I tried to read a poem of hers, which I got through with some pleasure on its first publication - once more - on the strength of having seen the writer, but felt it flat as last year's Court circular. Women, as Hartley says, are not good poets. Mrs Brookes & Miss Barrett have somewhat more of the pure poetic vein about them than most lady pretenders in this line - and of these two I think that the former, with lower aims has higher success; There are fewer false brilliants in her tiara, and I read her productions with more unmixed pleasure. You had not

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3) read "Zophiel" when I chatted with you last upon these matters. My "learned essay" I have excused Mr Kenyon from reading & I will excuse you too - if you are very good. Mr Newman's promised review of it does not appear. He has something else to do & to think of. Have you seen Palmer's Pamphlets; which has been said to have caused the alteration in the fate of the British Critic? It certainly marks the crisis at which it has arrived.

Well I must finish this scrawl, & write another to mama. I have been better upon the whole, since my coming hither - and my health, if it changes at all, which perhaps it does not materially, is rather on the rise than the decline. I have satisfaction too upon the whole in Herbert. His conduct is free from blame - his [manners] are middling - his looks tolerably healthy & will, perhaps, be [handsomer] - his progress in learning is steady & rather quick than slow. [He has] gained and keeps a highish station in the school for his age, [as] the boys in his division are older than he. His weakest point is composition in verse.

The school is now very full - 720 - It is quite fine in Chapel to look down upon the Ocean of boys, & to hear them rising, - especially when they rise to depart - in successive divisions.

Edward declares it folly for me to leave this house before the Christmas holidays - but I must go nevertheless est miki namgue mater domi, - hand injusta novera. "You are saving your money by staying here" - he observes - and "and when you go home you will have no one to brush you up with a controversy." You see what a considerate brother I have; but I

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must not save my money & spend my breath here after next Tuesday. Indeed an occasional meeting with Derwent will suffice to keep my disputatory vein from drying up.

Mama Nurse tells me - is wonderfully well for her, though nipped with cold - & Mrs Erskine found her "cheerful & chatty."

Give my best love to Hartley when you see him - Thank Dora for her last welcome letter & tell her that I continue to like Caroline. She has a heart I believe, - and is not a mere selfish servant.

I hope that Mr & Mrs Wordsworth will return to Rydal Mount refreshed & in good heart about their family affairs. With

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a sister's love to Dora & kind regards to your daughters. I remain, dear Friend, affectionately your's Sara Coleridge.

We hear that Edith W. is better

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N.B. What I have said of Mrs N's exemption from severity of judgment by reason of her charms - sounds rather too lax or rather too strong. But I really was not guilty of deep meaning. She is received everywhere now. You will be glad to see dear Miss Fenwick again.

Edward Quillinan Esqre

William Wordsworth's Esqre

Rydal Mount

near Ambleside

Westmoreland

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Object summary: WLMS A / Coleridge, Sara / 42