Eliza Fenwick, Lee Mount, Ireland, to Mrs. M. Hays,
at T. Hays, Wandsworth Common, near London, 21 July 1812.1
Lee Mount July 21st 1812.
My dearest Friend
When I opened a small
trunk at Bristol I found a note to you which I thought I had put some days
before in the 2d post in London written to tell you that Mr Robinson2 could not procure me franks to & from Ireland. His friend bef
belongs to the foreign department & Ireland does not come under that
description – It would be a stretch of his power that might subject him to
animadversion. I wd not write from Bristol merely to tell you that,
as I must have added that I was very ill. The day I f left London Monday
July 6th I was taken with my old Complaint. Had I not paid for the
places I shd have delayed a day or two longer. On the Journey I
suffered much pain & the four days I waited at Bristol for the Vessel,
which delayed sailing so much beyond her appointed time, I was scarcely a
moment free from pain. Our weather on the voyage was too fine for we were
becalmed & did not reach the entrance of Cork harbour till the morning of
the fourth day ^Monday July 13th^. There was not motion enough to make me sick
but I had all the uneasiness without any of the relief. As the Vessel was
forced to wait another tide to carry her to Cork, I engaged a boat & rowed
across the most beautiful harbour I ever saw to Passage, 6 miles above Cork, where we breakfasted & engaged a
Chaise to carry us to Lee Mount. I
felt quite well then & enjoyed with Lanno the Paddyism of our postilion who lost his way & after driving us
through intricate & rough roads for near three hours brought us to the
identical spot ^from^ whence we ^had^ set out. His jests & his curses were
equally diverting but at length we reached Lee
Mount safely, which is indeed a Paradise. The situation is exquisite in
picturesque beauty, the house spacious comfortable & most tastefully
elegant in its accommodations & decorations; and the mistress of the mansion
is the gentlest most unaffected Lady like woman I remember to have met with. I
had just time the afternoon of my arrival to view the apartments & some
part of the grounds before I was again taken ill & from that time till
to-day I have scarce had an interval of perfect ease. I have indeed suffered
dreadfully in body & been pained in mind in no small degree by introducing
myself with all this bustle & trouble into a new family. Mrs
Honners attendance on me has been just the kind considerate ^soothing^ patient
attention I should have received from Eliza had she been near me and the manner of my nursing here almost makes me ready to think
there was neglect in my former treatment, though that is an ungrateful term
& does not describe either the fact or my meaning. The hours that Mrs
H—has passed at my bed-side have brought us more acquainted perhaps than six
months might have done in the ordinary course. She is a thinking woman. Her
observations on life and manners are just & forcible & her moral
feeling & taste of a high order combined with a graceful simplicity of
manner & expression. She is little delicate, fair & youthful looking
with handsome eyes teeth & hair. Not quite as handsome as Mrs
Hewitt her Sister ^is^ nor with quite so much the air & style of high Ton, but completely and perfectly
at all times & in all actions the well bred Lady. With delicate health and
a yielding temper her children govern by annoying her but she gives me a Carte Blanche & when they find that
I will govern, they must of necessity
yield. They are fine Creatures but all except the eldest boy & girl, wild
headstrong & unruly. I shall have some struggle I dare say to bring the two
younger girls into subjection – one appears very shrewd & the other rather
dull. Miss Honner is a very sweet girl who will I think afford me both pleasure
& credit. Robert the eldest [son], 11 months younger than Lanno, is just
such another boy as Lanno & you may imagine what with the fine horses, the
dogs, the trees, bathing, fishing, riding & ranging the woods how
perfectly, except when uneasy about me he has enjoyed himself. He is quite in
favor with the whole house & Mr Honner had I been well enough to
look after a school would not allow of his removal while Robts Hollidays last.
Mr Honner is frank hospitable pleasant & good humour’d. All the ease &
polish of a Military Gentleman about him with a lively kind of blunt humour
which diverts & is always unmixed with any thing that could give offence.
He is a kind husband & father, & seems to prefer to all pleasure the
evening circle of his family. He is all day in his grounds planting, draining
fencing, building, & clearing the noble wood which covers the high ground
above the house & shelters it most completely on the north. Finding myself
better one afternoon, we walked through one part of this wood where he has made
openings to admit peeps at the romantic scenery it affords. Yesterday Mrs
H. took me out in the Chariot to view prospects but the sickness came on so
violently we were forced3 to return home. To satisfy Mrs Honners fears I
have had the advice of a Dr McGuire of Cork, who thinks with myself that the
obstruction passed on Monday night & that I shall now speedily mend. This
is owing I doubt not to the pain of parting from those I dearly love, & the
uneasy mind I bore about a full month before I left London. I had, it is true,
much hope but I had also many fears. If I am restored to health I have chosen
wisely. Here my time will pass regularly & quietly. If my occupation may be
troublesome from the untamed spirits of the Children, I have but to turn to the
window and a prospect rich & varied with all the combined beauties of hill
dale wood & water gives me that serene pleasure which natures chosen scenes
always affords. Then our evenings when I have been able to go to the dinner
& tea table afford me a lively & rational conversation. My chamber is
elegantly fitted up & I am requested to order any additions I may wish. God
knows my humbler tastes wd never have chosen what I find. To give
you one trifling instance of the readiness & delicacy of Mrs Honners
attention, speaking of flowers & scents I happened to say I was fond of the
smell of Mignonette, the next day when I had left my room, on returning to it,
I found a box full of Mignonette in blow placed outside my chamber window.
These trifles shew the mind as much as larger acts. The view from my window is
charming & after a night of pain it has been very refreshing at day break
to have my curtain undrawn to look on it. The sashes are low & my bed high
so I command the view as I lie. I must defer attempting to describe the house
& grounds till my next for it is time to talk of Eliza from whom a packet
which cost me 7 shillings reached me last Friday. This is her account of the
Phenomena
“My dearest Mother
At this time yesterday morning we thought
ourselves on the verge of eternity, and awaited in total darkness and almost
uninterrupted silence the expected shock which was to destroy us. It was a
dreadful day more horrible in the recollection than I felt it to be at the
time. I was then surprised at so wonderful an appearance and diverted by the
absurd fears of the people around me for their precious selves. It began, I
believe about two oClock on Friday Morning, by the report of distant guns,
several being fired in succession I
thought they proceeded from ships in distress, and was called up at that time
& went up to the Castle supposing there was an engagement at Sea and the
Soldiers were under arms all night Mr Dyke & Mr
Rutherford4 went down to the Sea side but could not distinguish any thing. The night
was extremely dark. I thought it the longest night I had ever known & was
watching for some appearance of day light that voice of terror that it was past
7 oClock. It was totally dark. I could not distinguish Margarets figure as she
stood between me and the open window. I dressed myself & went down stairs.
All the family were now assembled and we saw lights in all the surrounding
houses. I went into the balcony, and felt that it rained, as I thought, but returning into the room I found I was
covered with wet sand or ashes. It fell on our hands like thick snow. Everyone
thought an Earth-quake was coming. Mr Rutherford proposed our
leaving the house – Mrs D— wd not stir, her sister wd
not go without her so Miss Sims & I went out with him, but soon returned
for it was impossible to proceed – we could not see each other in the least and
were almost blinded by the dust which fell, not as if driven by the wind but in
heavy thick showers. There was not a breath of wind and the darkness seemed to
encrease. The Church was now lighted & the Bell rang for prayer Mr
B—borrowed from Mr Ford, our next neighbour, the younger Pliny’s
account of an irruption of Mount Vesuvius & read it. Pliny describes a fall
of dust or ashes previous to the great shock. We all, I believe, thought the
shock was coming. Mr D— laid down on the sopha & went to sleep –
Mrs D walked about & groaned, Kate cried, Miss Sims was silent
and I – asked for my breakfast. If I
had prayed for the Earth quake to come & swallow us all up I do not think I
should have excited so much indignation Mrs D— lifted up her hands
& eyes in amazement & the blacks were petrified with horror. Luckily
for me Miss Sims & Mr R— confessed themselves guilty of the
dreadful sin of hunger & at last we got our breakfast & most prophanely
eat it at the expense of our reputations for I perceive we shall never be
considered as Christians again. After breakfast I proposed going to Church but
none but my two companions in wickedness were willing to join me, the rest
thinking I suppose if they went with us the Church wd certainly
fall. My next plan of reading prayers was not better approved of. Mrs
D preferred the more pious amusement of abusing us to her blacks confident
Margaret, so we separated; Mr R. read the bible in his own room I
the morning service to Miss Brailsford in mine – Mr D— went to Capn
Sopers & Miss Sims & Mr Thomson made Love – For my part I think they
are best off. We passed an hour in this manner & met again to wonder at the
still encreasing darkness. When the Clock struck twelve I could not see my hand
as I held it up before my eyes tho’ standing at an open window. Such pitchy
darkness I never saw before. The Negroes ran about the streets with torches.
You have seen red glare of the firemans torches blasing along the streets of
London on a very dark night. Imagine the horror of such a sight at 12 oClock
in the day. At one oClock I cd just distinguish the Cocao nut tree
in the next yard which is much higher than any of the surrounding houses. Half
an hour later we had a most beautiful picture of a dark winters night when
everything is covered with snow. At two it was light but such a light as I
never beheld before. The place where the sun was, was just perceptible It
looked like the storm through a thick fog. I believe you will find a very good
description of it in the poem of the Ancient Mariner.5 We cd now
plainly see the dust which fell without intermission the whole day. At 6 this
awful day closed and at 11 we were all in bed. And now I must say that the
horrible calmness, the impenetrable darkness which seemed to veil from our eyes
the destruction that awaited us was to me sublime & delightful. I wd
not for worlds have been absent from the scene. If any power could have offered
at that moment to have transported me to England & to you I really believe
I shd have refused. I dare not – do not indeed say that I am sorry
^regretful this^ Island escaped the Earthquake which threatened it but as there
must have been one somewhere I am sorry I was not a nearer witness of it. Our
appearance to-day is more wretched than you can conceive we are absolutely
buried in dust or ashes – I do not yet know which it is. It has metamorphosed
every thing made the blacks white & the whites black. We eat it, we drink it,
& we sleep on it. I have saved a small bottle full to shew my friends in
England West Indian rain. (May 7th) This Phenomena has been
accounted for in a melancholy manner by the destruction of part of the Island
of St Vincent, of course you will heart hear a more circumstantial
account of this dreadful Earth-quake than I cd give. I still wish I
could have been a witness of it. What stupid lives people live in England
compared with that of the inhabitants of such climates as these. They say there
have been 200 shocks of Earth-quakes (slight ones) in St Vincent, within the
last twelve months. We are still buried in dust.”
In two subj subsequent ^preceding^
pages dated April 28th the speakers with some alarm about the
Theatre. The Man whom Mr Dyke offended about the admission of his
mishap into the stage box has raised a party against Mr D— & he has been very ill used &
compelled to receive the Mrs Shaw she mentions in her last into his
company in order to quell or not like the O. P business in London though all
the high people took his part. She speaks with great indignation against these
people though she says it does not interfere with her – they go on as plauding
& listening to her just the same but she addresses Mr D’s
conduct & feels for his injuries.
I
came abruptly to a conclusion on Wednesday Morning because the Butler is just
going to Cork & will take this to the Post. Lanno sends a thousand kind
remembrances. He has told Mrs Honner about you all & boasts
proudly of the kindness of all. Pray remember me to Mr & Mrs Hays & the children. I was much pleased with Mrs Francis & Sarah Dunkin seemed very glad to see me.6 Write to me as soon
as possible & as much as possible direct – R. Honners Esqr Lee
Mount near Cork Ireland.
God
bless you & give you health and peace prays yrs affectionately
E
Fenwick
This is scarcely
to be read but my hand shakes as tho’ I had been paralytic. Adieu Adieu Pray
write.
Address: Mrs M. Hays | T. Hays Esqr | Wandsworth Common | near London
Postmark: Illegible
1 Fenwick Family Papers, Correspondence, 1798-1855, New York Historical Library; Wedd, Fate of the Fenwicks 105-09; not in Brooks, Correspondence.
2 Crabb Robinson.
3 forst] MS
4 William Rutherford (1783-1829), an actor and the son of a Methodist preacher, who will marry young Eliza Fenwick within a year of her arrival in Barbados. They will separate on 16 July 1818, the day their fourth child, Orlando Rutherford, was born.
5 Reference is to The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (1797), a narrative poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge.
6 References are to Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Hays, Elizabeth Dunkin Francis, and her younger sister, Sarah Dunkin, soon to be married to George Wedd.