Eliza Fenwick to Mary Hays, at T. Hays, Esqr, Wandsworth, Monday, 23 July [1810].1 Monday. July 23d The day after my
arrival in London mentioning to Mr
Dyer2 that I intended going the following morning to Islington to enquire why
you my estimable & long kind friend had ceased to communicate with me, I
heard to my surprise that you had become a member of your Brothers family at Wandsworth. That would
not have deter’d me from visiting you, but I was taken ill with a severe
complaint that held me three long weeks in great suffering & rendered me
unequal to every exertion Since my recovery I have been & am still watching
the daily expected arrival The last has been a
very momentous year to me. It has taught me new griefs Eliza is at present at Birmingham.4 She possesses virtue in its every sense. She has a heart worthy of being lov’d by yours. The fate of high virtue and great sensibility you too shall know. The longer we live the more misery we become acquainted with. Adieu my dear friend Yrs E Fenwick Address: Miss Hays | at T. Hays Esqr | Wandsworth Postmark: 23 July 1810 1 Fenwick Family Papers, Correspondence, 1798-1855, Unpublished Letters, New York Historical Library; does not appear in Wedd, Fate, or Brooks, Correspondence. After she left Park Street, Islington, in early 1809, Hays moved in with her brother Thomas in his new and spacious home on Wandsworth Common. As Fenwick's letters will reveal, Hays continued her work as a teacher, this time mentoring several of her brother's children, especially his daughter. In April 1811, Orlando Fenwick will begin attending a boarding school at West Hill, near Wandsworth, operated by a Mr. Wilkinson; Orlando will spend many weekends in the Hays home at Wandsworth, with Mary Hays becoming his "second mother." 2 Hays's old friend and correspondent, George Dyer. 3 Elizabeth Hays Lanfear, Hays's younger sister and now a widow after her husband's suicide in 1809. 4 Eliza Fenwick, Jr., was still pursuing her actor career with various provincial acting companies.
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MARY HAYS: LIFE, WRITINGS, AND CORRESPONDENCE > MARY HAYS CORRESPONDENCE > 1810-1819 > 1810 >