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Item details: | Topic id equal to person-Hutchinson-Jack-1768-1833 | ||
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Clarkson, Catherine (1772-1856). - Letter, from an unstated address, to Dorothy Wordsworth (1771-1855), at Rydal Mount, Kendal, dated 25 to 30 December 1825. WLL / Clarkson, Thomas / 22.
My dearest friend! This is Xmas day & your Birthday & being Sunday we have not our usual party in the Kitchen so that the house is as quiet as possible & I will take advantage of it to wish you many happy returns of the day & of the season & to ask your forgiveness for my long silence. I can scarcely tell how it happened that I did not write to you after the death of our sweet child but I believe I expected to hear from you about that time & the sad event besides the sorrow brought a great deal of care upon me. All the family came here for a time & I was so badly off for Servants that it was with difficulty that I could keep things going on with tolerable comfort. The darlings death was received by us all with thankfulness for the state she had been in for the previous month was dreadful & the effort to come near the example she set us too much for our weak nature at times. It is however a comfort to reflect that no hired Nurse (the thing of all others which she dreaded most) was needed. She expired in the presence of all whom she most loved without a struggle or sigh or the motion of a finger. Her poor Father shrank from witnessing the last scene though he had constantly slept in the room with her but could not resist a message which she send to beg to see him. The sight of him gave her vigour for a moment & she cried out She looked as dear Mary expressed it like a beautiful flower that had just snapped on the stalk without being separated. I never saw any living creature nor any production of the pencil or chisel so beautiful as she looked in her coffin. Poor Tom did not get home in Time to see her alive - I wrote to him at Lancaster to hasten home & without receiving my letter he lost no time - One day sooner & he would have seen her - He followed her to the grave. The state he left her in & anxiety for Mary & for us all added to the heat of the weather & the novelty & excitement attendant upon a first Circuit was rather too much for him but he seems to have recovered nearly his usual state of health. He is in fact better than Dr. Williams expected in the time & I hope that he will yet be a strong man - The Circuit was a very successful one much more so than could have been expected & what was very gratifying to him the chief part of his business came from his old Clients who had employed him as a special Pleader. He was very sorry not to have been able to get to Rydal. It was at Lowther Castle that he saw your dear transported - When he got home he wrote a beautiful Letter which if I were not lazy & had not so much to say I would transcribe it is so unlike what most Lords write - I have had a busy summer & from the want of good servants was at one time nearly knocked up but the worst part of the story was that the most useful one of the set proved a rogue. I know you will be very sorry & I am sure you will pity me when you learn that Henry has been robbing us by little & little for a length of time. At first I hoped
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person:
Clarkson, Thomas (1796-1837)
person:
Wordsworth, William (1770-1850)
place:
Lowther Castle
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corporate body:
servants
It is time to talk of more important matters - I rejoice exceedingly to hear that a new Edition of Williams Poems are is coming out. It is a symptom of improvement in the age & an earnest of still greater improvement to come I have often thought & to one or two persons I have said that I was quite sure that William might long since have silenced all opponents & carried all before him by publishing a few poems of an elevating class alone - without a word of preface or remark - It is better as it is perhaps For the last three years I have had so little time for reading & have been occupied in so very unpoetical a manner that you cannot think with what joy I have returned to my first love joy not unmixed with sorrow & self reproach that I should have wasted so much time in such low pursuits. If however [page break (4)]I should have secured myself & others from the necessity of recurring to them again I trust that I shall not have cause for permanent regret & at all events my Husband has been set free to follow the noble impulses of his better nature. I must not finish my letter without saying something of our health. At times my Husband is troubled with Rheumatism & it often goes to my heart to see him so lame. For myself I am taught by Dr Williams to expect that I shall outgrow the Erysepelas - Time will do more he says than My dear friend! I was interrupted on Xmas day & I have been prevented from resuming my pen by the shock I received at seeing in the Newspaper that Mr Hutchinsons Bank at Stockton had stopped payment. I hoped that I might hear something further - The Notification was accompanied by a high [[?]] upon the Firm but not with an interruption of their payments being speedily resumed. I hope that no other members of the family will sustain loss but I cannot keep feeling uneasy. Now don't follow my bad example but let us resolve on parting with the old year to keep up a closer intercourse in the new one. My tenderest love attends you all. You will be sorry to here that poor Mrs Robinson is in a very suffering state & if no change takes place cannot be expected to remain long here - She bears up with wonderful fortitude God bless you all my dear friends Yours for evermore Cath: Clarkson -
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person:
Clarkson, Catherine (1772-1856)
person:
Clarkson, Thomas (1760-1846)
state of being:
marriage
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person:
Hutchinson, Jack (1768-1833)
To Miss Wordsworth Rydal Mount Kendal Object summary: WLL / Clarkson, Thomas / 22
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Ref. wll-clarkson-thomas-22
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