BIB_ID
118048
Accession number
MA 9710.1
Creator
Taylor, Henry, Sir, 1800-1886.
Display Date
1880 May 12.
Credit line
Purchased by Pierpont Morgan, 1908.
Description
1 item (6 pages) ; 17.8 x 11.3 cm
Notes
Acquired as part of a large collection of letters addressed to William Angus Knight, Chair of Moral Philosophy at the University of St. Andrews and Wordsworth scholar. Items in the collection have been individually accessioned and cataloged.
Written from "The Roost," Taylor's home in Bournemouth.
One of two letters from Taylor to Knight in the Morgan's collection. The other letter is cataloged separately as MA 9710.2.
Written from "The Roost," Taylor's home in Bournemouth.
One of two letters from Taylor to Knight in the Morgan's collection. The other letter is cataloged separately as MA 9710.2.
Provenance
Purchased by Pierpont Morgan from William Angus Knight, 1908.
Summary
Saying that Knight "could neither gain much from my coöperation nor lose much from the want of it," regarding information about Wordsworth; adding that he would only be able to repeat what he told an earlier inquirer (a Mr. Grosail?); commenting "To gather about a mans work all the details that can be found out about it is, in my opinion, to put a drag upon it. And as of the works, so of the Life"; saying that his understanding was that Wordsworth wanted only a "brief memoriam"; writing "His desire was disregarded & his Life lies buried in the dust heaped upon it (with the best intentions) by his nephew & biographer, the Bishop of Lincoln" (referring to Christopher Wordsworth); adding that he is afraid he is answering Knight in "a too confidential tone," but saying that he is thankful for "the attention shown me in yr Letter"; writing that he does not know whether a copy of the original edition of Descriptive Sketches still exists.
Catalog link
Department