Eliza Fenwick, Lee Mount, to Mrs. M. Hays, at Lee Mount Augst 26th 1813 My dearest Friend, I feel the greatest
inquietude respecting your long silence. Do you remember what a period has
elapsed since you wrote to me! I forwarded my last to you by Mrs
Hewitt The complaint of which I lately spoke so much in my head is considerably better. I have tried river bathing & imagine it agrees with me but whenever the wind is Easterly I am crippled with the Rheumatism nor do I walk with perfect ease to myself, however I generally persevere in taking exercise. On the 25th of last month I was suddenly attacked by my old Enemy from whom I imagined I had parted for ever. I had a return of the pains every second or third day during a fortnight & since that I have been free. This visitation was probably brought on by fright. Mrs Honner had a most dangerous delivery: she was obliged to take lodgings in Cork for the period of her confinement because her accoucheur never leaves the Town & what with my alarm for her, & the anxiety I felt so to govern the family at home that all should go on well during her absence together with perpetually going backwards & forwards from hence to her, altogether turned me out of my accustomed course & probably gave rise to this attack. The baby lived to the second day only after its birth & Mrs Honner is now at home & more recovered than I could have expected. She continues studiously attentive to promote my comfort, nor have I ever found a change in her. Since the 24th of May I have had a regular succession of letters from Antigua all of the most satisfactory mind & pourtraying a mind elated with & fondly appreciating its own happiness. I cannot tell whether Eliza or Mr R. writes most urgently on the subject of my coming to the West Indies. I have taken a year to consider of the plans they suggest and if matters continue to appear as favorable as they now do for my successful establishment I think I ought to go, especially if Orlando as Mr Rutherford strongly recommends goes there to study & practise the Law of their Courts. I forget whether I explained these views in my last, but if I did not I will enter into the details when I write again. I conclude that you
duly received the £6 because Mr Mocatta mentions having paid it to Mr
Lamb. Perhaps you will be shocked to hear that I have actually this year
overrun my income – adequate as it did appear to me to every possible want.
Every article of dress is very dear & I am necessarily obliged to be more
expensive than I was in London, for I wear my clothes out much faster & in
conformity to Mrs Honners Lady refinements I dress better. That
however, with my management, I could keep within reasonable bounds but
Orlando’s expences continually exceed my estimates, and these I cannot in
conscience retrench so valuable do I deem the advantages he is reaping. My
Doctors bill shall never if I can help it come to such an amount again ^as it
has this year^. English Apothecaries are dear but irish ones Let me hear from you as soon as possible & as particularly as possible and believe me ever my dearest friend most affectionately yours E Fenwick Address: For | Mrs M. Hays | Postmark: None 1 Fenwick Family Papers, Correspondence, 1798-1855, New York Historical Library; Wedd, Fate of the Fenwicks 141-42; not in Brooks, Correspondence. 2 Thomas Amyot (1775-1850) had been a close of Crabb Robinson's since his late teenage years. Amyot was from Norwich and, like Robinson, contributed to the short-lived periodical from that city, The Cabinet, in 1794-95. Like Robinson, Amyot became a solicitor but his career changed in 1806 when he became private secretary to William Windham (also of Norwich) when he became War and Colonial Minister. Amyot left Norwich for London and in 1812 published a three-volume set of Windham's parliamentary speeches, along with a memoir. He continued to hold positions in the Colonial Department, and along the way devoted himself to archaeology, becoming a fellow of the Royal Society in 1824, already having become a member of the Society of Antiquaries. He also served as one of the Directors of the Camden Society between 1839 and his death in 1850. Through his position with the Colonial Office, his services were often beneficial to his friends who traveled to places within the Commonwealth or emigrated, as Fenwick had done.
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MARY HAYS: LIFE, WRITINGS, AND CORRESPONDENCE > MARY HAYS CORRESPONDENCE > 1810-1819 > 1813 >