Eliza Fenwick, State Street, New Haven, Connecticut, to Mary Hays, Vanbrugh Castle, Maze Hill, Greenwich, near London, 1 March 1825.1 Newhaven March 1st 1825 I confess my Dear, my
long tried & yet neglected friend, that you have cause to reproach my
silence. I reproach myself still more severely, & acknowledge with shame
& compunction, that I ought not to have suffered any cares, perplexities,
or busy occupations to have induced me to procrastinate my writing to you. To
wait for quiet & leisure in a family like ours, is to seek for that which
never can be found, & I begin to believe it equally unlikely that repose
from ^tumult or^ vexations ever will be ours. The past year seems like a confused,
& busy dream. We lived some months in a crowd – six Barbadian Ladies came for
a renovation of health, & would not be denied accommodation in our family,
which added very much to the usual claims on our time; & to encrease the
bustle ^surrounding us^ one of them had been the first love of a Gentleman who had removed his family to this
Country some years since, & about the time of our arrival had become a
widower. Parents in both sides had objected to their youthful passion – Both
had married – both had become free, & they no sooner met in our
drawing-room than we all predicted the result. ^Mrs Alleyne^ was married from our house. About
the same period two other weddings occurred in our West India circle here,
& we could not without giving offence avoid taking a share in the gay &
^almost^ endless festivities ^with^ which it is the practice of Newhaven to
solemnise such events. All that over & our boarders departed I looked for
an interval of domestic repose, when a storm burst over us, as sudden, as
unlooked for ^ & astounding^ as a thunder clap from a serene &
cloudless sky. I wonder if I ever named the Wallace family to you. They were living her
(from Santa Cruz) when we arrived – A father, Mother, six daughters and one Son
much older than his Sisters a poor wretched youth always intoxicated &
disgracing his connexions – an elder Son was spoken of as a British officer in
the 20th, at that time guarding Bonaparte at St Helena. Mr
Wallace regretted that our terms were so high he could not afford to send his
children, & soon applied to Mr Marshall & Mr
Dummett, to propose to us receiving 4 of his girls for In the first bitter agony of my heart how I prayed that the story might reach Mr Rutherford, as a meet punishment for his desertion of a meritorious wife, & her four lovely children. I expected the health Eliza had gained to be destroyed, but happily the affectionate zeal of our friends has sustained her – one of Mr W—s slanders was accusing her of intervening with Mr Dummetts Son ^now^ a youth of 18 – who when she first went to Barbadoes was a little pet of hers – Perhaps you remember her speaking of him in her letters. He retains his early liking, & has been to her & me, like one of our own Children. Mr Dummett when we first arrived said – Now Mrs R— you must polish Douglas & reform his careless habits – I know he will bear reproof better from you than from me: But it would fill another sheet to tell you all of this tale of infamy. It would be unnatural if told as a fiction, that Malic[e] could be carried to so gross an excess, & without the smallest provocation to excite ^it^. Mrs W— now pretends that I said I took her children for charity but she also pretends she forgets where she heard, what indeed I never thought, much more said. When the story first spread abroad Major Williams (who is the first here, for wealth, & high honorable & gentlemanly character, & who has two daughters taller than I am still under our care) came every day in an open Barouche with his wife, & her Sister, & took Eliza out, driving through all the principal streets & avenues of the town to give the most public proof of his desire to defend our cause. Mr Dummett was ^& is^ absent at Florida, but all according to their power have proved their wish to erase from our minds every painful impression. Still there are moments when bitter pangs assail us, lest these atrocious people in some other place interrupt our peace, or that our children may hereafter smart under their slanders & unparalleled3 malignity. I have dwelt longer on this odious tale than I intended, but as yet it swallows up all other thoughts & cares. I have received no money yet from Demarary – Mr Benjamin who took my power of Attorney & from his wealth & high influence in the Colony would have been able to serve me greatly, was lost with his eldest Son & his Wifes Sister on the voyage. My affairs in Barbadoes are still unsettled & I begin to despair of getting any of the debts collected. We have been warmly solicited to remove to the Neighbourhood of New York & have it under consideration. I have much to say on that subject & on others relating to ourselves as well as on parts of your kind letter but time presses me to a conclusion, & I can only say I sympathize sincerely in all you feel for poor Mrs Lanfear. I always admired her fortitude. May God encrease it, & reward her when she reaches that shore where pain sorrow & suffering are unknown.4 Mrs R. sends her affectionate regards Adieu! You shall soon hear from me again & write as often as you can – my dear dear Friend Farewell! Yrs sincerely E. Fenwick Address: Mrs M. Hays | Vanbrugh Castle | Maize Hill | Greenwich | near London. Postmark: 13 April 1824 Pr Louisa Matilda 1 Fenwick Family Papers, Correspondence, 1798-1855, New York Historical Library; Wedd, Fate of the Fenwicks 233-37; not in Brooks, Correspondence. 2 attrocious] MS 3 unparallelled] MS 4 Elizabeth Hays Lanfear would have been dying from cancer when Hays had written previously to Fenwick; by the time of Fenwick's response, she had already died.
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MARY HAYS: LIFE, WRITINGS, AND CORRESPONDENCE > MARY HAYS CORRESPONDENCE > 1820-1829 > 1825 >