BIB_ID
403768
Accession number
MA 1581.271
Creator
Wordsworth, William, 1770-1850.
Display Date
Rydal, England, 1825 May 28.
Credit line
Purchased from Benjamin Ifor Evans, 1954.
Description
1 item (4 pages, with address) ; 24.9 x 19.9 cm
Notes
This letter was formerly identified as MA 1581 (Wordsworth) 41.
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 and seal to "Sir Geo Beaumont Bart / Grosvenor Square / London."
The "alliance" referred to in this letter is the impending marriage of Sir George's cousin and heir, George Howland Willoughby Beaumont, 8th Baronet, to Mary Anne Howley, daughter of William Howley, Bishop of London, later Archbishop of Canterbury.
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 and seal to "Sir Geo Beaumont Bart / Grosvenor Square / London."
The "alliance" referred to in this letter is the impending marriage of Sir George's cousin and heir, George Howland Willoughby Beaumont, 8th Baronet, to Mary Anne Howley, daughter of William Howley, Bishop of London, later Archbishop of Canterbury.
Provenance
Purchased as a gift of the Fellows from Benjamin Ifor Evans, 1954.
Summary
Expressing his delight at the happy news of the "...alliance of the fairest kind" and hoping that George "will enter into your feelings and Lady Beaumont's in respect to Coleorton, with a becoming spirit so that your views may not be frustrated. This I have much at heart. The Place is worthy of the pains you have taken with it, and one cannot breathe a better wish for him, as your Successor, than that his duties there should become his principal pleasure;" describing the beauty of Spring, saying "Never, I think have we had so beautiful a spring; sunshine and showers coming just as if they had been called for by the spirits of Hope, Love, and Beauty. This spot is at present a Paradise, if you will admit the term when I acknowledge that yesterday afternoon the mountains were whitened with a fall of snow. - But this only served to give the landscape, with all its verdure, blossoms, and leafy trees, a striking Swiss air, which reminded us of Unterseen and Interlaken; reluctantly giving up the hope of seeing Italy with Sir George, but having to defer anything until John is finished with University; declining Sir George's offer of financial assistance, saying "We sacrifice our time, our ease, and often our health, for the sake of our Friends (and what is Friendship unless we are prepared to do so?). I will not then pay money such a Compliment, as to allow it to be too precious a thing to be added to the Catalogue, where Fortunes are unequal, and where the occasion is mutually deemed important. But at present this must sleep;" asking about his painting and the annual exhibition; commenting on the beauty of nature saying "I never had a higher relish for the beauties of Nature than during this spring, nor enjoyed myself more. What manifold reason, my dear Sir George, have you and I to be thankful to Providence! Theologians may puzzle their heads about dogmas as they will; the Religion of gratitude cannot mislead us. Of that we are sure; and Gratitude is the handmaid to Hope, and hope the harbinger of Faith. I look abroad upon Nature, I think of the best part of our species, I lean upon my friends, and I meditate upon the Scriptures, especially the Gospel of St. John; and my creed rises up of itself with the ease of an exhalation, yet a Fabric of adamant;" sending his love to Lady Beaumont.
Catalog link
Department