Coleridge, Sara (1802-1852). - Letter, from Greta Hall, to Elizabeth Wardell (nee Crumpe), at Queen Anne St, dated 5 July 1828. WLMS A / Coleridge, Sara / 21.

Gretahall

July 5 1828

My dear Friend

Thank you for your very kind letter & others which I have received since I wrote to you; I should have answered the former ones by private hand some time ago, but was disappointed of the conveyance I expected; I have continually been thinking of addressing you lately, but hoped that by waiting a little I might be able to tell you something more about my affairs; my dear Friend, has been very full of pleasant schemes lately & I hoped to be able to tell you the result when I wrote: but though I cannot do so I will delay no longer. You may have seen in the some paper that Henry has been appointed Secretary to the Committee for managing the affairs of the King's College, the new London University; this is both honourable to him and will I hope be lucrative but the amount of his salary he will not know till November; if it does not equal his expectations he will resign the place, but I shall be right sorry for him to have had so much labour for nothing; the place will keep him in London too all the Summer, and deprive him of his usual season of rest & recreation; this grieves me and I look forward with some anxiety to the state of his health this time next year when he will have had a trial of confinement and of labour quite new to him. But I believe his constitution to be a strong though a defective one, & certainly his professional prospects begin to brighten a little; so that on the whole I have reason to entertain better hopes than I did. His ex-

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extreme eagerness for the wedded bliss rather I fear unsettles his mind, & makes him form a number of schemes and projects which keep me in an agitated state and are at last found unfeasible; never did any poor man more hanker for a wife to make him[[?]]: he is all warmth and affectionate fidelity, and when we are united, if ever that day arrives, I am sure his society will make my life supremely blessed.

I had not heard of your brother's marriage, but now I am very glad to congratulate you and him upon it. I should much like to see his bride: you do not mention her sister; how does she endure the separation poor thing, & what hopes are there of her recovery, & marriage; what a trial for her and your elder brother! I pity them both sincerely. Your sister Louisa too! what a sufferer she is and has been! surely she must have some strength of constitution to stand so many shocks - I do hope your next account of her will be more comfortable.

I did not tell you of an alarming inflammation in the eyes which my Henry had in the Spring; from his few hurried lines I really feared for some days that he might lose one eye or both, & was miserably anxious for some time, but God was pleased to avert so heavy a calamity, though I fear his sight is somewhat impaired. At the time of this attack all his intimate friends were [[-?-]] out of town; he was confined to his Chambers with scarce a soul to speak to, unable to amuse himself in any way, and a prey to gloomy apprehensions; sleep which he procured by means of powerful opiates was his only comfort; this is the seventh serious illness which he has had since he left

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College. Whenever he is ill I feel our separation with a keenness very different from my usual sensations; were I his wife I might alleviate his sufferings in a thousand ways - but I do hope and trust both his health and his circumstances are likely to improve ere long.

Mr Wm Jackson has not made his appearance yet; we should all be very glad to see him, and we rejoice in his late good fortune as I suppose he considers it on the whole: I assure you, my dear Friend, I heard the news with delight, and was much pleased to hear how charming a spot his new parsonage is; you do not allude to the subject of your sister's union, and I will not ask any teasing questions, but I do hope that whenever it takes place she and her attached Friend may enjoy all the happiness which both so well deserve, and which their long separation must make them feel the more strongly. Your accounts of your own comfort and happiness my dear Elizabeth quite put me in spirits; your letters often used to make me melancholy in former times, but now they are ever cheering and full of pleasantness.

In regard to the "Winter Wreath" I am very sorry, my dear, I am unable to do more for you, but really I have not ventured to mention the subject to my Uncle or Mr Wordsworth; - I know it would be useless as they have made a general declaration that they cannot listen to such applications in future; my Uncle's time is so very precious that really I cannot ask him to bestow it in this way; the Proprietors and Editors of the Keepsake and other Annuals make him, Sir W. Scott my Father and other literary persons

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handsome offers for their contributions and my Uncle says jocosely that he intends to make it known every where that he is resolved to be very mercenary for the future; people will say then he must change his nature, but the fact is he really cannot afford to give away his productions. I am quite sorry that it is out of my power to oblige you in this particular; but Hartley has written some [[-?-]] sweet verses on our poor Isabel which he will be very glad to dedicate to the purpose you mention - I think you will like them and that they will be suited to the character of the publication; they quite upset me, and brought back to my mind all those sad scenes which seem never absent from my poor Aunt's mind. She has been very poorly and dejected since my Uncle's departure; the alterations and repairs both in and out of doors which are obliged to take place in the Spring require a sort of exertion on her part which quite exhausts her strength, and overthrows her naturally weak spirits. My aunt Lovell is a sad sufferer too - her eyes are grown weak and inflamed, and she sleeps so little at night that really her life is almost a burden to her. My mother looks very well, but she has many ailments, and her many cares have rendered her sadly nervous; yet her spirits are certainly good upon the whole. Derwent and Mary have been visiting Ottery and are now with their friends at Plymouth; - the latter seems to be universally liked and she raves about her husband and declares that her family doat upon him: he is all happiness, and the idea of being a papa I believe does not diminish his felicity, though mama shakes her head, and says she should have

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been as well pleased had there been no prospect of the kind. They seem to be very comfortably settled at Plymouth - they have a nice house and garden, the climate is delightful, & they are quite petted by the neighbourhood which consists chiefly of rich people much older than themselves. Derwent works very hard but if his health continues as good as at present he is perhaps not the worse for that. He and Mary are very anxious to see my mother and me, but when we shall be able to accomplish the journey I know not.

Your friendly invitations my dear Elizabeth give me heartfelt pleasure: would that I could accept them! but at present I must not think of leaving home: I ought not to leave my pupil Cuthbert and the expense of a journey is a consideration that must not be altogether passed by: however it is a great pleasure to me to receive such assurances of your friendship, and to be[[-?-]] look forward to availing myself of them at some future time; I often talk about the agreeable visit I paid you, & how thoroughly I was able to enjoy myself in your house. Mrs Hutton has renewed her invitation to me - but when I can visit Dublin I am sure I cannot tell; I should like it much were it more easy to accomplish.

I will mention your kind invitation to Edith, though I know it will be out of her power to accept it. She will return with her father about a fortnight hence, & her mother is so anxious for her return that every day I believe seems an age to her. She spent the winter very gaily at Bath, & has since been visiting some friends at Taunton; thence she took an excursion

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to the North of Devon and was delighted with the romantic scenery of Linton & Lymouth. My Uncle intended to have joined her in the West, but he has been induced to sit for his picture to Sir. T. Lawrence for Mr Peel, & for his bust to [Chantrey], which have taken up so much time that he has been obliged to give up his Western Exhibition, & Edith went to join him in town; this is a great pity as she can stay so short a time; the fatigue of the journey for a fortnight's visit seems ill bestowed but it could not be helped; my Uncle has been laid up under the hands of Mr Copeland - but is now recovered - I do not exactly understand his complaint, but he has been subject to it for several years, & he says it is a great comfort to feel himself a sound man: after so many years of infirmity it is internal. His poem of "Eleemon or the Sinner Saved" is to come out soon I believe; it was intended for the Keepsake but the Editor's assurance in proposing to with curtail it has enabled him to withdraw it altogether, which is a good thing as he would have been very inadequately remunerated. Mr Murray is going to publish it with engravings somewhat in the style of the annuals, to take it's chance with them of being bought for presents, which I believe is the source of their amazing sale. Mr Heath the Editor of the "Keepsake" was at Keswick this winter and visited my Uncle to solicit his contribution; he had taken a journey to Scotland on purpose to ask for that of Sir W. Scott: he had given an order at Spital fields for 4000 yards of red silk to cover his forthcoming Edition.

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I believe my Uncle will substitute some other smaller piece. Hartley is staying here at present - he desires by all means that I should give his love to you: he still purposes visiting Edinboro in August: Mr Wilson is most friendly to him, and says that besides the facilities for literary undertakings which the place will afford, he may have adult pupils, and he will find many and efficient friends there - Sir W. Scott is interested for him &c. Mrs Wilson is also desirous of seeing him. Mr Dequincey's eldest daughter lives under their roof & is educated with their children; this is very kind. Mama and I shall be very anxious when Hartley is in Edinboro' but I hope all will turn out for the best.

My dear I am sorry that you are still troubled with those oppressive headaches: I am very [stupid] which I fear is infecting this letter, but it is only a little temporary languor. My Father is gone abroad with Mr Wordsworth & Dora: he is going to visit a friend on the Rhine: I was astonished when I first heard of his going for I did not think his strength equal to the undertaking, but his friends say it will do him good, and I pray that it may turn out well. I should like to know, when you next write, what is become of the Kosters; how poor Charlotte goes on, or whether they went to France as they proposed doing. Miss Wordsworth is gone to the Isle of Man with William to visit her brother Henry, & Miss J. Hutchinson. She and Miss H. spent a week here in the winter, & took Kate back with

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them for a short time they seem to think that Owen Lloyd & Miss Harden will make a match of it after all - they are much attached to each other. Mr Harrison is somewhat better Miss Myers spent part of her holidays here in the winter: I pity that poor girl very much - she has no comfortable home of her own, and is obliged to remain at school where she is sick of the tiresome nature of school duties, having nothing more to learn, and where with the feelings of a woman she is necessarily treated as a child. I must now conclude my dear Elizabeth this is a shocking scrawl - I have a great deal of writing to do just now and feel so languid & heavy today that I can hardly hold the pen straight. Give my kind regards to your worthy spouse and remember me to all your family when you see them.

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My Uncle gives a very good account of Sir Thomas's picture - I always thought he would succeed better with my Uncle than any one else. Hartley wrote the verses I mention on purpose for you: [adieu]. Mama desires her kind regards to you. Hartley is writing an article for Blackwood which I think will do him credit: it is on Retsch's illustrations of Hamlet His last articles were Norfolk Punch and Evening an Ode - a drole thing. I am sorry to say his article on poetry was too late. I wish indeed he would correspond with you.

I wish I had time and news to fill up this space my dear Elizabeth: but I have neither. What delightful weather! Not at all too hot here - I grow fonder and fonder of the country every day. Mrs Patterson, Mrs John & Mrs Frank Coleridge all expect to add to their families this Autumn - poor things! I wish them well through it! They seem to have nothing else to do but nurse babes and bring them into the world. Adieu. I must direct this to Queen Anne St and I forget the number. Believe me my dearest friend your truly attached

Sara Coleridge.

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Object summary: WLMS A / Coleridge, Sara / 21