BIB_ID
403759
Accession number
MA 1581.262
Creator
Wordsworth, Dorothy, 1771-1855.
Display Date
Bury St. Edmunds, England, 1810 August 14.
Credit line
Purchased from Benjamin Ifor Evans, 1954.
Description
1 item (4 pages, with address) ; 22.1 x 18.2 cm
Notes
This letter was formerly identified as MA 1581 (Wordsworth) 32.
This letter is from a large collection of letters written to Sir George Howland Beaumont (1753-1827) and Lady Margaret Willes Beaumont (1758-1829) of Coleorton Hall and to other members of the Beaumont family. See collection-level record for more information (MA 1581.1-297).
Address panel with postmarks to "Lady Beaumont / Coleorton Hall / Ashby de la Zouche / Leicestershire." The address has been crossed through and replaced with "Mrs. Fermor / Albion Place / Bath."
Place of writing from contents of this letter and from Letter no. 204 in the publication cited below, written on the same day to her brother, and dated "Bury St. Edmunds."
This letter is from a large collection of letters written to Sir George Howland Beaumont (1753-1827) and Lady Margaret Willes Beaumont (1758-1829) of Coleorton Hall and to other members of the Beaumont family. See collection-level record for more information (MA 1581.1-297).
Address panel with postmarks to "Lady Beaumont / Coleorton Hall / Ashby de la Zouche / Leicestershire." The address has been crossed through and replaced with "Mrs. Fermor / Albion Place / Bath."
Place of writing from contents of this letter and from Letter no. 204 in the publication cited below, written on the same day to her brother, and dated "Bury St. Edmunds."
Provenance
Purchased as a gift of the Fellows from Benjamin Ifor Evans, 1954.
Summary
Relating, in detail, her travels since leaving Lady Beaumont at Coleorton; describing how she remained outside the coach for most of the journey and despite the cold she was happy being outside; saying "There, by the light of the moon, and of our Carriage lamps, I now and then discovered some scattered rocks; and they and every thing reminded me of Coleorton, and many a time I turned my head round to look back towards that quarter where I supposed Coleorton lay. This is a pleasure I could not have had in the inside of the Coach; and indeed I am sure, cold as I was, that I had a much more agreeable journey than I should have had if I had been shut up there; for the sky was very beautiful all night through, and when the dawn appeared there was a mild glory and tender chearfulness in the East that was quite enchanting to me, being a sight I have so seldom seen;" relating details of the other passengers, the towns they passed through, where they stopped and the sights she saw; describing the time she spent in Cambridge and the kindness of Mr. Clarkson; saying "...at eight o'clock the next morning went to Trinity Chapel. There I stood for many minutes in silence before the Statue of Newton, while the organ sounded. I never saw a Statue that gave me one hundredth part so much pleasure - but pleasure, that is not the word : it is a sublime sensation, in harmony with sentiments of devotion to the divine Being, and reverence for the holy places where he is worshipped...I sought out a favorite Ash tree which my Brother speaks of in his poem on his own life - a tree covered with ivy...There, and every where else at Cambridge, I was even much more impressed with the effect of the Buildings than I had been formerly; and I do believe that this power of receiving an enlarged enjoyment from the sight of buildings is one of the privileges of our latter years;" saying she had just received a letter from William saying he reached Hindwell on Friday morning and found Miss Hutchinson doing well, but that she is "grown quite fat"; adding that Mrs. Clarkson was glad to see her and is doing well; sending her regards to Sir George and to her sisters; promising, in a postscript, to write on larger paper when she writes again.
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