Eliza Fenwick, [Vauxhall], to Mary Hays, at T. Hays, Esqr, Wandsworth Common, Wednesday, 3 o’clock, [c. early October 1811].1 Wednesday 3 oClock Your letter arrived just as
Eliza was leaving me last night & gave her much disappointment. She cannot
come on Friday for her Uncle has made it a
particular request that she will keep house for him & overlook his people while
he goes to Manchester for which place he means to depart on Saturday. It is
great nonsense for he is continually compell’d to leave home on business &
his workmen will have a hundred opportunities of idling away their time beside
this when Eliza I hope Eliza will have one teté
a teté day with you to indemnify her for her loss on Friday. I fear she will
not go with a good grace to Limehouse on that day, for nothing can exceed the
general discomfort of What advantage might Orlando gain by a removal to the Military College? And what sort of interest does it require? Mr Fenwick could, I know, get the interest of Lord Holland & Whitbread.3 Beside having materially obliged, when he had the statesmen, Coll Glennie, Col. Bromfield,4 the Prince’s Aid-de-Camp, & one or two others of that station I have no doubt he could & would get some recommendations – At least he would try, provided you are of opinion that the point is material to establish. I have no idea of the nature of the College & its terms &c, therefore can form no judgment. Where sobriety, industry, & economy were not the necessary ingredients Mr F— would exert himself to serve Orlando or any other boy so circumstanced. And now my dear friend pardon
me, for having forced you back to painful associations. I admire the
forbearance from complaint you exercise and perhaps I ought to imitate it; but
when I shall begin I cannot tell. When I am pouring out my bitter thoughts and
lamentations the consciousness of your sympathy in my feelings impels me
forward. I neglect to consider that my consolation is suffering to you &
that I ought to endeavour rather to beguile you of heavy moments Lanno’s letter though not God bless you & thank you. Remember me in the properest manner to yr Brother & Mrs Hays. Perhaps if Friday or Saturday
^or Sunday^ is equally convenient to you Eliza will choose that which suits me
best & walk with me from hence shd the weather permit. In that
case do you decide whether I Yrs most truly E F.
I am quite insensible about the Concert, my mind is so taken up with lesser matters. I shd not however participate in Orlando’s magnificent frolic. 1 Fenwick Family Papers, Correspondence, 1798-1855, New York Historical Library; Wedd, Fate of the Fenwicks 41-43; not in Brooks, Correspondence. 2 Mrs. Thomas Hays. 3 Henry Richard Vassall-Fox, 3rd Baron Holland (1773-1840) was a Whig politician and nephew of the prominent Whig MP, Charles James Fox. Samuel Whitbread (1764-1815) was a brewer who served as MP for Bedford from 1790 to 1813, becoming one of the leading Whig politicians during that time. Fenwick was attempting at this time to enlist help, which included Thomas Hays, in procuring admission for Orlando as a cadet most likely into the Military College at Woolwich or Addiscombe, with the hope that he would be granted a commission in the Army or the East India Company. 4 Colonel Glennie became an instructor at Addiscombe Military School (designed for cadets to serve the East India Company in India) near Croydon upon its founding in 1809. There were 60 cadets that first year, and about 90 in 1813, paying £30 per annum for tuition, room and board. Glennie was paid £200 per annum as the instructor in Fortification, but he had been relieved of his duties May 1811, a few months before the above letter (see Henry Meredith Vibart, Addiscombe: It Heroes and Men of Note [Westminster: Archibald Constable, 1894], 38, 39). Stephen Bromfield (1740-1823) was a retired British military officer, having served in America and St. Domingo.
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MARY HAYS: LIFE, WRITINGS, AND CORRESPONDENCE > MARY HAYS CORRESPONDENCE > 1810-1819 > 1811 >