WCP398

[1]

Derwent Villa

Sydenham Road North

May [1872-1874]¹

My dear M^rs Sims

Your dear kind letter came on Saturday² & I read it with delight[,] although I felt rather distracted as my dear little stepdaughter[,] M^rs York³ with her 3 little sons of 9, and 7 & a half & the other darling little fellow of 3 years old were coming to spend the day here. Her youngest baby girl is 8 months old, she has 3 little girls, dear little Eva is 6, & dear little Emily [2] (Totsey) is 5, her youngest baby is named Gladys, she lost her first baby at 15 months old. On Sunday morning we were enchanted to receive the beautiful likeness of your dear brother Alfred⁴, we shall wonder over it for some time, and we were both over head and ears in love with him when we were young girls, and we also were delighted with the beautiful likeness of your dear Aunt⁵, we love to dwell upon it, as she was so kind to us in our early childhood and the many many happy days we spent at Dulwich which we shall never forget to the end of our lives, we think it a splendid likeness[.] We [3] quite remember the expression of her beautiful eyes, just like your dear Mother[']s⁶ and also her other beautiful feattu features, we like the style and the frame, we think it is beautifully done. When you and M^r Sims⁷ come here, I shall get it framed & when I die I shall leave it to your dear little nephews & nieces as of course I should have no one who would appreciate it, having never known her. We were so grieved & sorry to hear that you had been suffering from Bronchitis. We wrote the other day to Miss Roberts⁸ & asked her if she would like to come to [4]⁹ Cheltenham and visit us[.] she wrote back a very kind letter saying she would like to come to us in the early part of June. We had to put off Maryanne Burdon¹⁰ for a week or two, she is a cousin of the Burdons.

Would it suit you to come to us about the middle of July or the beginning of August as we find we need not move until the end of August or the beginning of September, Stupid like as we have been.[5]¹¹

my description continued

and a magical scene was presented by the whole of the objects around being reflected in the pure water as in a Glass — (I could but wish an aged Pastor had been there with an Infant to Baptize it in that pure font surrounded by the friends with the lights held over their heads[.] it would ^have been a truly Patriarchal scene worthy [of] ^{the pencil} of an able artist [1 word illeg. crossed out])[.] after this we stooped again & ascended when with a wand musical bells were played on parts of the transparent [1 illeg. word] that resembled Pipes[.] after ^this he attracted our attention to a fat goose ^{and the breasts of several Turkeys} prepared for the spit and fillets[?] of Bacon hang side by side as in a Town House[.] the rough back & the sparkling salt within, in another part a figure resembling a monkey grinning with the Paws in his mouth[.] [6] then along a gallery are suspended petrified specimens of Drapery in Elegant folds and festoons as seen in a large shop in Regent Street[.] Then we stooped into a circular chamber from which arches upon arches were seen through ^{might[y] towers}[?] ascending to other worlds — and the special pipes forming arched abbey windows exactly resembling parts of Neath abbey[.] the frames partly mutilated — but no green herbage — all formed by dripping of water for ages upon ages past & gone[.] Some parts felt wet — others dry & a portion ^{of a passage} that had been cut through to admit a body — had the appearance of a stone that had been cut & polished with variegated colours — from Grey to greenish & felt as smooth as glass about the size of a cheese plate — some of the [7] projecting portions were transparent so that when the lights were passed behind you might see your hand through, — many parts of the sides when you looked through them seemed multiplied[,] Pipes (like those of an organ of all sizes) running back apparently for miles — When we came out the air felt quite warm[.] we were all much gratified by the sublime scene — Old Hatch¹² said, he never expected to see it tho' he lived so near (within three miles) but it pleased him more than seeing the Grand Exhibition would have done — then the old man went into the Tea Gardens & had a glass of Ale & a pipe with some more farmer like people & we walked about & were amused seeing people company on the Lake in Boats — there had been a large party picnicing in the gardens — we saw the [8] empty Baskets removed to the concierge[?] in waiting — they were hoisted at the top. Several artificial waterfalls in the gardens make it cool & pleasant[.] We took nothing there for I only provided myself with 5/ — about 7 in the even[in]g we returned to blewer[?][,] had tea there with good brown Bread & Butter — and walked from thence Home which we reached just at 10 O[']clock —

I saw Phoebe Hatch¹³[.] she asked after you and M^r Sims & whether he did his Pictures now[.] She is growing a fine girl (she says she is 15) you heard of her being so very ill[.] her sufferings were by ^all account[s] very severe[.] She often begged of them to knock her on the head to end her misery — after the Abcesses broke she got better but was on her bed [for] six months ^{and long after} not able to walk more than an infant of a month old but youth & good fresh air have conquered[.] She has now taken a fresh start & bids fare to be as tall as M^rs Cole¹⁴ & as stout & strong[.]

[9] Robert Montgomery¹⁵ was a writer of a ^the satanic order[,] the subject being the daring one "of the "Omnipresence of the Deity"¹⁶[.] This work was rapidly disposed of[.] the next work produced was "Satan"¹⁷ The poem[,] if such it might be called[,] earn[e]d a little for its author which has[,] in spite of his sacerdotal character, (stuck to him ever since) and which effectually distinguishes him from James¹⁸ — Having exhausted his diabolical inventions, he become excessively devoted to the fair sex and produced his "Woman the Angel of Life[.]"¹⁹ he afterwards went to Oxford[,] became an M.A[.] — and after reading some time in Glasgow [he] was Installed minister of Percy Chapel[,] London to which place of worship I repaired for the purpose of hearing him[.]

[10] These are Extracts from "Pen and Ink Sketches of Poets, Preachers and Politicians["]²⁰

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author not named

Published 1846 —

[11] 1842

Four years since a Ladies Bazaar was got up in Cardiff Castle for the purpose of procuring funds to aid in the erection of a Church on the side of one which had been washed away 200 years before by a flood of the River Severn and consequently of a great influx ^Influx of waters into the Estuary of the Bristol Channel — It was considered that if some poems on the subject could be procured from popular writers [they] would materially aid the objects in view— Mr James Montgomery and also Mr Wordsworth²¹ were applied to and both kindly complied with the request made by sending — the annexed Sonnet and Poem[.]

These productions have never long since been out of print — and are not included in any collected volume[.] they will therefore have almost all the charm of novelty[.]²²

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