Coleridge, Sara (1802-1852). - Letter, from Greta Hall, Keswick to Elizabeth Crumpe, at J.G. Crumpe's Esqre, Queen Anne Street, Liverpool, dated 17 April 1823. WLMS A / Coleridge, Sara / 6.

Gretahall Keswick

April 17- 1823.

My dearest Elizabeth

Hartley says he has been commissioned by you to give me a good rating for neglecting to write to you, and richly should I deserve one were it not for some circumstances which I hope you will consider as containing rather more satisfactory apologies for my silence than usually fill up the first page of a lazy correspondent's epistle. - In the first place, almost ever since I last wrote to you I have been afflicted with a complaint in my eyes which has cost me, I think, almost as much distress & uneasiness as anything else that ever happened to me, (that is a hasty expression which you must not take in it's full extent) at any rate it has rendered our long quiet Keswick winter, which I had looked forward to as a season of improvement & tranquil pleasure, a very uncomfortable & tiresome period. - I have not, indeed am not allowed to use my eyes at all by candle light, & not much at once, or intently, at any time - this was the more provoking, as my Uncle, before he went to Town, put into my hands the memoirs of the Chevalier Bayard, to translate from old French;- I had long been wishing for some employment of this kind, & did not suffer the state of my eyes to prevent me altogether from undertaking the task, though of course I was obliged to pursue it much more leisurely than I otherwise should: I have finished the translation & am now reading it

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through & correcting it before I send it to the press; - I did think that I would defer writing to you, my dear friend till I had got the Chevalier off my hands, & my mind, which will be in about a week, but Hartley's letter put me quite into a fidget - I could not bear that you should continue a week longer to think me so forgetful & unaffectionate a creature as you must do till you receive this explanation. Owing to my cousin's absence, & some other circumstances, I have had a greater number of unavoidable letters to write than usual the consequence of which has been that I have been obliged to neglect those correspondents to whom I have not been under the necessity of writing in business.

Edith has been exceedingly gay ever since her arrival in the metropolis, going to balls, evening parties, & public parties almost every night, which she infinitely prefers to the dinner visiting; she is now paying a visit in Norfolk for the second time since she left us in July she goes with Lady Malet to Devonshire, where she has so many friends to see that I fear we shall not have her home till the end of October. Bertha has just left us for London; - we heard of her arrival there today - she is not visiting at the same home as her sister; - her stay is uncertain. Edith has been able to see little of Dora, though she has made every effort to do so. In regard to myself I have been very near paying my long promised visit to Ireland this Spring, but the difficulty of finding an escort, & some other circumstances induced me again to defer it, & it is now settled that if nothing prevents, I am to return with Mrs Hutton in September, when she will have finished her visit with her friends at Eton. However I think it probable, that

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if there be no amendment in my eyes before that time, my father will think it necessary that I should go to Highgate to be under the care of Mr Gillman, of who most kindly offers to undertake the care of them, which however he says will be a most tedious operation. My dear cousin Fanny is to be married next Thursday; - I have been kindly invited to attend the wedding, a pleasure which I am obliged to forego - I believe I mentioned to you in my last that the gentleman was a Mr Patteson, a worthy barrister, in very good circumstances; - my cousin William Coleridge - is going out Bishop to Barbadoes, & Fanny observes how well it is that my coaxing did not succeed, otherwise she should be breaking her heart in preparing to leave her native country for twelve years, for that is the term of William's banishment, as it may truly be called to such a place he accepts the offer entirely from [conscientious] motives. Fanny of course will live in London. By the bye we are going to lose our friend Mary Calvert in August, when she is to be united to the youngest brother of our Keswick beauty, the [ci-devant] Miss Stanger, now Mrs Mitford - Her prospects are delightful in all respects, except the delicate health of her intended, which however will I hope improve. Mary will come down here every Summer, but we shall miss her lively society sadly during the dull lonely months of winter. Miss Mac-Lochlin is to be married to a rich Highland Laird - apropos to marriages what do you think of the lofty [Gouvernante] of Ambleside stooping to that little 'potecary, Miss Mary Taylor is grown doubly affected they say, on the strength

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of her approaching nuptials with Mr: Lutwide.

You may have heard, my dear Elizabeth, that my father has been chosen a member of the Royal Literary society, with £100 a year, & an essay to write yearly: - he is in pretty good health at present for him, & has seen a good deal of the Dora &, the Wordsworths since they have been in town. Dearest Hartley goes on delightfully, & writes us such amiable cheerful letters that it quite does our hearts good to receive them. He has just

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parted with Mr Calvert's son Raisley, who used to study with him out of school hours - he can employ his leisure hours with much greater & more permanent profit in writing for different publications - one of his cousins has written to him to ask him for an article for Knights Quarterly Magazine. I mention these things to you because I know the kind interest you took, & still seem to take, in H's concerns, which I assure you we shall none of us ever forget. With regard to Derwent we were a little disappointed, as you may suppose, at his not making greater efforts to obtain some academical distinctions - but there are many excuses for him poor fellow, and they are not of so much real importance as some are apt to imagine - He is now third Master of Plymouth School & has some hopes of becoming second at no very distant period - he is delighted with the scenery which he says is only inferior to this with the saluberity of the climate, & with the society, and seems to dislike nothing in his new situation but

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the distance from us. I hope my dear Elizabeth, that this letter will make my peace with you, & that you will write soon, for indeed I am very anxious to hear about you & your concerns, which I hope are going on to your wish - I cannot say that mine are in all respects, but I must not enter upon these subjects now. - [how] I long for a confabulation with you! but cruel fate! I hope all your sisters are well; - pray remember me most kindly to them & to Mr & Mrs. Crumpe & to your brothers - Mama desires her best love to you - It is very kind in you to write to Hartley. My poor eyes feel as if they were full of sand - this East wind is very bad for them, & long letters I regret to say, not exceedingly beneficial. Only think of Cousin Dora's making such a good match! however I ought not to decide that it is such unless I had seen the gentleman. This letter seems full of marriages, but this has been a very marrying year; by the bye it is Leap year. Believe me, dearest Elizabeth, your most

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affectionate friend Sara Coleridge

P.S. I am quite enamoured with my hero the good Knight Bayard - he is the very mirror of courtesy, and [pink] of prowess; - After the contemplation of his heroic virtues I shall quite look down upon all the modern youths, however irresistible they may be, - in their own eyes. Bayard was really & truly irresistible in war, and in the peaceful scenes where female hearts are to be won he possessed qualities which must have rendered him equally so at least if the Ladies of the fifteenth century had the same ideas on the subject as the humble translator of his valorous [[-?-]] & virtuous actions,

your true friend Sara Coleridge.

Miss Elizabeth Crumpe

J.G. Crumpe's Esqre.

Queen Anne Street

Liverpool.

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Object summary: WLMS A / Coleridge, Sara / 6