Letter 14: 17 October 1803
Letter 14: 17 October 1803
- Physical form: One sheet folded into 2 leaves (18.8 x 23 cm)
- Cover: Miss Rickards / Church Row / Hampstead / Middlesex
- PM: 12o’Clock / OC 18 / 1803 N.EY[?]
[x]o’Clock / OC 18 / EV
TwoPyPost / Unpaid / Stoke Newing[ton] - WM: S LAY / 1800
- SM: Misc MS 4355
My dear Miss Rickards,
When I thank you for the letter which I
received from Ramsgate, [1] I am conscious that
you have a right to chide me for not having yet answered it. For some time past
indeed I have been on the point of writing, but thought it better to wait till I
knew you were returned lest between both places, I should miss you. I am very
glad you have ^had^ so pleasant a party at Ramsgate, & enjoyed yourselves in
so much security. I daresay the resident inhabitants of the watering places take
as much care to keep off alarms ^of invasion^ [2] as the
inhabitants of Philadelphia or New York do to suppress or mitigate the notices
of the yellow fever, when it is among them— Mr Barbauld
& myself spent one week of quiet & domestic enjoyment, which was also
brightened by fine weather, at Epsom [3] with the Carrs. I
verily believe the air from those fine open downs is as bracing & healthy as
any sea air between Scarborough & Dover—the country is not equal in
beauty to the Paradise of
Leath-
[fol 1v] Leatherhead or Norbury
Park, [4] yet the extensive sheep walks & open corn
fields, the beautiful turf of the race ground, & the neighbourhood of a park
or two afforded excursions sufficiently pleasant. One day we dined in the open
air upon Box hill [5]—The
Ibettsons [6] have got a very pretty house at Dorking.— We are all
here pretty well, except my niece who however is not worse. Hannah Kinder [7] is returned; very opportunely to chear
the spirits of her sister, who was very low after parting with your
Cousins. [8] They carried along with them our cordial esteem &
sincerest wishes for their happiness wherever their future lot may be
cast— We dined to day with Mr Belsham, [9] I am glad to find he will have eight pupils this
half year, among which will be Mr Berkeley’s two youngest
sons [10]— And now let me proceed to the request I have to make,
which is that you, & Mrs Rickards & Miss Harrop
would spend a day with us, now you are returned. Will Tuesday the 25th be convenient? I have written to Mr
Ward [11] to ask the
same favour, thinking that you might come together, & therefore if that day
should not suit either of you, & you can fix together any day in that week,
Monday & Saturday excepted
let
[fol 2r] let me know & it will be the same thing to me—I hope to see both Mrs Rickards & you improved by your excursion, but improved or not I long to see you & you must come, so for the present Adieu. Mr Barbauld joins me in affe Compliments to Mrs Rickards & Miss Harrop. I am dearest Lydia
Affectionately Your’s
AL Barbauld
Stoke Newington
Oct 17th
Notes
[1] Ramsgate, on the coast of Kent, was then a fashionable "watering place." BACK
[2] "alarms of invasion": See note 3 to Letter 13. ALB regarded invasion alarms skeptically (ALBVE, 460–61). BACK
[3] Epsom: A spa in Surrey, site of fashionable horse races. BACK
[4] Leatherhead is a town near Dorking and hence near Box Hill. Norbury Park was the estate of William Lock (see Note 3 to Letter 1). BACK
[5] Box Hill: See Note 1 to Letter 1. ALB recorded her fondness for Box Hill in a poem (Poem 119 in The Poems, Revised). BACK
[6] Not identified. A Mr. and Mrs. "Ibetson" attended a Barbauld evening party on 11 June 1802 (RB, Diary). BACK
[7] Hannah Kinder was a daughter of ALB's in-law John Kinder, draper. To her ALB addressed Poem 140 (The Poems, Revised). BACK
[8] "your Cousins": Not identified. BACK
[9] "Mr. Belsham": The Rev. Thomas Belsham. See Note 7 to Letter 11. BACK
[10] Mr. Berkeley: Not identified. BACK
[11] A Mr. and Mrs. Ward took tea with the Barbaulds and Mr. Belsham on 22 June 1802 (RB, Diary). BACK