by Wendy Moore
CHAPTER 6: ANNA AND HONORA
103 Growing up in the plush Bishop’s Palace: Biographical information on Anna Seward is chiefly from Barnard; Stapleton; Lucas; Oulton; and Anna Seward’s voluminous correspondence in the published collections of her letters—the 6 volumes edited by Constable in Seward (1810) and the poems and letters edited by Scott in Seward (1811)—and her unpublished letters in the archives at SJBM. My thanks to Joanne Wilson, curator of the SJBM, Lichfield. See also Kelly, Jennifer, Bluestocking Feminism: Writings of the Bluestocking Circle, 1738–85 (London, 1999), vol. 4; and Faderman, Lilian, Surpassing the Love of Men (New York, 1981).
103 Dr. Johnson would always say: Hopkins, p. 210.
104 Encouraged by her father, at nine Anna: AS to “Emma,” juvenile correspondence, in Seward (1810), vol. 1, p. lxviii. Barnard suggests that Seward’s correspondent “Emma” was an imaginary friend. Barnard, p. 9, and personal communication.
104 Anna’s youth in the happy company: AS gives the dates for Honora’s time spent with the Seward family in a letter, AS to Mrs T [Temple], June 19, 1796, Seward (1811), vol. 4, pp. 214–20. There had been 10 girls and 2 boys in the Sneyd family, but 4 of the girls died before their mother.
104 Within days of her sister’s burial: AS to Mary Powys, December 11, 1784, SJBM 2001.77.10. Sarah Seward was buried on June 16, 1764. Parish register, The Close, Lichfield 1744–97, LRO.
105 “This child seems angel”: AS to “Emma,” April 1764, Seward (1810), vol. 1, p. cxvii.
105 the “lovely infant-girl,”; “the oval elegance”: AS, “The Anniversary,” written June 1769, Seward (1810), vol. 1, pp. 68–73; AS to Court Dewes, March 30, 1786, in Seward (1811), vol. 1, p. 144.
106 Taking a year’s lease on a substantial: The exact date that Day moved to Lichfield is unclear. Edgeworth said that he himself was not in the country when Day returned from Ireland. This must have been after April 1770, when Seward recorded that Edgeworth was visiting Lichfield. Seward said Day arrived in spring 1770. It was probably May.
106 Situated at the crossroads of the main: Background on Lichfield is from Hopkins; Anon, A Short Account of the Ancient and Modern State of the City and Close of Lichfield (Lichfield, 1819); Jackson, John, History of the City and Cathedral of Lichfield (London, 1805); and Upton, Chris, A History of Lichfield (Chichester, 2001).
106 Standing on its own in a secluded spot: Stowe House survives today almost unchanged in external appearance and largely unchanged on the ground floor. The house was built, in about 1750, for Elizabeth Aston, who lived farther up the hill in another house. Details of the history and interior of Stowe House are from Dorothea Mary Benson, Baroness Charnwood, “A Habitation’s Memories,” in The Cornhill Magazine, 63, no. 378 n.s. (November 1927), pp. 535–47; and Call Back Yesterday (London, 1937). Dorothea Charnwood grew up in Stowe House. Stowe House is now a management training college, owned by the Institute of Leadership and Management. I am grateful to Alan Baker for showing me around. Information on the area is from Greenslade, M. W., The Victoria History of the County of Stafford,“Lichfield” (Oxford, 1990), vol. 14, pp. 67–72.
107 the “watry mirror” of Stowe Pool: Barnard, p. 67.
107 The “villa, rising near the lake”: AS, “Lichfield, an elegy, written May 1781,” in Seward (1810), p. 89.
107 In Shaw’s play Pygmalion: The quotes are from Shaw, pp. 29, 33, 34 and 38.
108 “without a protectress”: Edgeworth, RL and M, vol. 1, p. 240.
109 he should teach her “everything he knows”: Rousseau (1960), pp. 156–57.
110 Even Edgeworth thought that this relaxed: Edgeworth, RL and M, vol. 1, pp. 234–35 and 231–32.
110 “Every stranger, who came well recommended”: Edgeworth, RL and M, vol. 1, p. 232.
111 a “whole cluster of Beaux”: AS to Mary Powys, April 25, 1770, SJBM, 2001.76.1.
111 regarded as something of a social climber: Walpole described Canon Seward as a social climber. Hopkins, p. 63.
111 Sabrina was “received at the palace”: Edgeworth, RL and M, vol. 1, pp. 234–35.
111 From the start Anna Seward was fascinated by the “even ful story”: Seward (1804), p. 19.
112 She was a “beauteous girl”: Seward (1804), p. 26.
112 “Mr. Day looked the philosopher”: Seward (1804), pp. 13–16.
112 A portrait of Day: It is difficult to date Wright’s portrait of Day precisely. Anna Seward states that it was painted in 1770. Seward (1804), pp. 14–15. Wright’s account book gives no date for the portrait, but it is included in a list of others painted in 1771 and 1772. Joseph Wright, Account Book, Heinz Archive and Library, NPG. More information on Wright and his portrait of Day is from Nicolson, Benedict, Joseph Wright of Derby: Painter of Light (2 vols., London; New York, 1968); Egerton, Judy, Wright of Derby (London, 1990); Barker, Elizabeth E., “Documents Relating to Joseph Wright of Derby (1734–97),” in Walpole Society Journal, 71 (2009), pp. 1–181. My thanks to Elizabeth Barker for her help. The first portrait, initially owned by Edgeworth, is currently in the National Portrait Gallery; the second portrait, previously owned by the Strutt family, is now in Manchester Art Gallery. My thanks to both galleries for advice. Seward states that the book in Day’s hand is open at the oration of “that virtuous patron in the senate, against the grant of ship-money”—a reference to Sir Algernon Sidney opposing Charles II—but no writing can be discerned in the actual paintings. It seems more likely the book was Émile.
114 Day was “a rigid moralist”: Seward (1804), pp. 24–25 and 13.
114 Since Honora, the usual target for her affections: AS referred to Honora’s return from Bath, in autumn 1770, in a letter in 1786. AS to Mary Powys, June 25, 1786, Seward (1811), vol. 1, pp. 156–57.
114 When Rousseau’s novel Julie, or The New Héloïse: AS to Dorothy Sykes, December 10, 1775, SJBM, 2001.72.8. Honora attended a school run by the Latuffière couple who moved to Lichfield in 1766 before uprooting for Derby in 1775.
114 When Émile appeared, Anna read: AS to Henry Cary, May 29, 1789, Seward (1811), vol. 1, p. 282. Seward described to Cary how her views had changed since reading Émile 20 years earlier.
114 On Day’s repeated trips to the palace: Seward (1804), pp. 24–25.
115 Seward described the contract Day signed with Bicknell: Seward (1804), pp. 26–27.
115 Darwin was devastated: King-Hele (2007), pp. 42–43; and King-Hele (1999), p. 91. Mary Darwin was buried on July 4, 1770: Parish register, The Close, Lichfield 1744–97, LRO.
116 John Saville had arrived in Lichfield from Ely: Hopkins, pp. 105–12; Barnard, pp. 74–76 and passim. The Lichfield parish register gives Saville’s age as 67 when he was buried in 1803, suggesting that he was born c. 1736; Mary Saville was buried in 1817, aged 80, suggesting she was born c. 1737. Their eldest daughter Elizabeth was buried in 1839, aged 84, suggesting she was born c. 1755–56. She married on November 25, 1777, with her father’s consent, meaning that she was then under 21, and was therefore born after late 1756. In other words she was probably born at the end of 1756. Burials register, The Close, Lichfield 1744–97, LRO; marriage register, The Close, Lichfield, November 25, 1777.
117 Following one musical soirée in 1764: AS to “Emma,” in Seward (1810), vol. 1, p. cvi.
117 “the vilest of Women”: AS to Dorothy Sykes, May 1773, SJBM, 2001.72.1.
118 “He cannot be my husband”: AS to Dorothy Sykes, May 1773, SJBM, 2001.72.1.
118 fifteen love poems: AS, Seward (1810), vol. 1, pp. 25–64.
118 It was not long before rumors began: King-Hele (1999), p. 96; King-Hele (2007), p. 140n.
118 Darwin’s grandson, the future naturalist Charles Darwin, would even suggest: King-Hele (1999), p. 105. Charles Darwin suggested that his grandfather fathered a girl baptized Lucy Swift on July 29, 1771, i.e., she was conceived in late 1770.
119 When Samuel Johnson made his “annual ramble”: Samuel Johnson to Hester Thrale, July 7, 11 and 14, 1770, in Johnson, vol. 1, pp. 344
–45. Johnson stayed in Lichfield between July 2 and 18.
120 “Harden their bodies”; “When reason begins to frighten them”: Rousseau (2010), pp. 173 and 192.
120 Richard Warburton-Lytton, Day’s friend: Bulwer, (1883), vol. 1, p. 20.
120 the surgeon John Hunter curtly demanded of one father: Ottley, Drewry, The Life of John Hunter, FRS, in The Works of John Hunter, ed. Palmer, James (4 vols., London, 1834), vol. 1, p. 29.
121 Behind the closed doors of Stowe: Details of these trials in varying descriptions are from Seward (1804), pp. 29–30; Rev. Richard George Robinson quoted in Hopkins, p. 148; Anon (1819), p. 155; and Schimmelpenninck, p. 10. Although AS states that Day dropped wax on Sabrina’s arms, Schimmelpenninck said it was her back and arms. There is no trace of the letter from Robinson cited in Hopkins.
122 He had even suggested accustoming children to loud noises by firing pistols: Rousseau (2010), p. 192. Many thanks to Mick Crumplin for his advice on eighteenth-century pistols.
123 “I always discouraged every appearance of indolence & finery”: TD to SS, May 4, 1783, ERO, D/DBa C13. This letter was probably a draft as it contains various crossings-out and amendments.
124 she was petrified of horses: Rev. Richard George Robinson quoted in Hopkins, p. 148.
125 “I never thought I had a right to sacrifice another being”: TD to SS, May 4, 1783, ERO, D/DBa C13.
125 Dates and details of early Lunar Society: Uglow; Robinson; Schofield.
125 At one point he would reject an offer from Boulton: TD to Matthew Boulton, October 29, 1780, Soho archives: Boulton Papers, MS 3782/12/81/104.
126 Or as Boulton would delicately put it: Matthew Boulton to Matthew Robinson Boulton (his son), October 26, 1789, Soho archives: Boulton Papers, MS 3782/12/57/37.
126 Day lent significant sums to Small, Keir and Boulton: Day lent £400 to Small, which the doctor passed on to a friend, and £3,000 to Boulton to help weather his extensive losses following the credit collapse in 1772. He lent an unknown sum to Keir, according to Rowland. TD to Matthew Boulton, March 17, 1775, Soho archives: Boulton Papers MS 3782/12/81/84; Schofield, p. 53; Rowland, p. 100.
126 The Lunar men would exchange views on education as their children grew: King-Hele (1999), p. 83; Uglow, p. 124. King-Hele suggests that in Wright’s painting, ED is the figure in profile on the left foreground and the boy behind him is his son Erasmus, then 8, while the boy on the right holding the cage is his son Charles, 9. Sukey Wedgwood and Maria Edgeworth both stayed with Day.
126 Mary Anne Schimmelpenninck would certainly be: Mary Anne Schimmelpen-ninck (née Galton), Life of Mary Anne Schimmelpenninck, ed. Christiana A. Hankin (London, 1860), p. 31.
127 He had just bought a lease: Moilliet and Smith; Moilliet, A.; Uglow, pp. 155–62; Smith, Barbara M. D., “Keir, James (1735–1820),” Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford University Press, 2004) online edition, accessed April 14, 2008. For more on Keir’s glassmaking business and glass manufacture generally in eighteenth-century Staffordshire see Timmins, Samuel, “James Keir, FRS, 1735–1820,” in Transactions, Excursions and Report for the Year 1898, Birmingham and Midland Institute Archaeological Section, 24, no. 74 (1899), pp. 1–5. The Stourbridge area boasted numerous glasshouses, which had first been established by French Protestant refugees in the seventeenth century. The glasshouse that Keir took over had been operating since that period.
127 “some Lichfield fair”: JK to ED, August 20, 1766, cited in Moilliet, A., p. 48.
127 “Nothing surely can be more absurd”: Keir, pp. 20–28.
127 True to his name, Dr. Small: Lane, Joan, “Small, William (1734–1775),” Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford University Press, 2004), online edition, accessed April 14, 2008.
128 the doctor held “paramount” influence over Day: Edgeworth, RL and M, vol. 1, p. 331.
128 Small tried to persuade Day to abandon his Pygmalion project: Keir, p. 31.
128 “He never saw any woman”: Edgeworth, RL and M, vol. 1, pp. 331–32.
128 “She betrayed an averseness to the study of books”: Seward (1804), p. 29.
128 As Day would later put it: TD to SS, May 4, 1783, ERO, D/DBa C13.
129 The problem, as Seward acutely: Seward (1804), p. 29.
129 Sabrina herself would later tell a friend: ME to Frances Edgeworth, October 13 and 15, 1818, in Edgeworth, M, p. 122.
129 He would later tell Sabrina: TD to SS, May 4, 1783, ERO, D/DBa C13.
130 The ambiguity of Sabrina’s situation: Watch and Ward was initially published as a serialized story in 1871 and then as James’s first book in 1878. The quotes are from pages 72 and 81. My thanks to Peter Rowland for drawing my attention to this work.
131 It was Richard Lovell Edgeworth, bringing: Edgeworth Senior died August 4, 1770. Johnston-Liik, E. M., History of the Irish Parliament, 1692–1800 (Belfast, 2002), vol. 4, pp. 104–5. Emmeline was baptized “Emely” at Wargrave parish church on November 29, 1770. Wargrave parish register 1770.
131 “curious to see how my friend’s philosophic romance would end”: Edgeworth, RL and M, vol. 1, p. 213.
131 She had “a beauty”: Edgeworth, RL and M, vol. 1, p. 213.
131 Sabrina was “now too old to remain”: Edgeworth, RL and M, vol. 1, p. 240.
132 he had found “a woman that equalled the picture of perfection”: Edgeworth, RL and M, vol. 1, p. 235.
132 While she had been away with her father and sisters in Bath: AS to Mary Powys, April 25, 1770, SJBM, 2001.76.1; AS to Mary Powys, June 25, 1786, Seward (1811), vol. 1, pp. 156–57.
132 she told him he was the “first person”: Edgeworth, RL and M, vol. 1, p. 236.
133 “Sabrina Sydney had, perhaps”: Edgeworth, RL and M, vol. 1, p. 240.
133 After nearly twelve months of lessons: AS said that the trials lasted twelve months; RLE stated that Sabrina was sent away in early 1771. Seward (1804), p. 29.
133 he promptly “renounced all hope”: Seward (1804), pp. 29–30.
134 If she worked hard, Day told her: TD to SS, 4 May 1783, ERO, D/DBa C13.
134 on no account to allow her to learn either music or dancing: Edgeworth, RL and M, vol. 1, p. 240.
CHAPTER 7: ELIZABETH
135 Named Sutton: Main sources for background on Sutton Coldfield are Jones, Douglas, The Royal Town of Sutton Coldfield (Sutton Coldfield, 1984); Lea, Roger, The Story of Sutton Coldfield (Stroud, 2003); Anon, The History of Sutton-Coldfield . . . by an impartial Hand (London, 1762); and Riland, William Kirkpatrick, Three Hundred Years of a Family Living, Being a History of the Rilands of Sutton Coldfield (Birmingham, 1889).
137 His trust in the power of education: Seward (1804), pp. 29–30.
137 Utterly confounded by his friend’s indifference: Edgeworth, RL and M, vol. 1, p. 241.
138 A powerful dynasty, the Sneyd family: Burke, vol. 2, pp. 1259–61; flyleaf of family bible belonging to Charlotte Sneyd, 1766, with dates of birth of children, Edgeworth Papers, MS 10166/3; Edward Sneyd’s diaries, containing dates of birth of the family, Staffordshire Record Office, HM37/40. The first ten children were all girls. Four children, Eliza-Maria, Honora (the first with this name), Susanna and Harriet, did not survive childhood. Anne died in 1765, aged 19. The others were Lucy born February 9, 1748; Mary August 7, 1750; Honora (the second with this name) September 29, 1751; Elizabeth January 24, 1753, and Charlotte May 2, 1754. There were then two boys, Edward born September 28, 1755 and William February 28, 1757. Lucy married William Grove on September 19, 1768, and had five children. Mary was sent to live with an unmarried cousin Ann Sneyd, Edward’s niece, who left a lively collection of household accounts detailing trips to assemblies, payments for gloves, gowns and shoes for herself and Mary, as well as presents for the other Sneyd girls.
138 Three of the girls—Lucy, Honora and Elizabeth: Sherwood, p. 10.
138 Courted by a succession of admirers, Honora: Sargent, Winthrop, The Life and Career of Major John André (New York, 1902); Garnett,
Richard, “André, John, 1750–1780,” Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford University Press, 2004) online edition, accessed July 26, 2011. The ODNB gives André’s date of birth as May 2, 1750, but he describes himself as 18 in his letter to AS of October 3, 1769, suggesting that he was born in 1751. Three letters from André to AS are published in Seward, Monody on Major André (Lichfield, 1781), pp. 29–47.
139 During his Christmas break with Day, Edgeworth: Edgeworth, RL and M, vol. l, p. 236.
140 “marriage is often the grave of love”: Seward (1804), p. 24.
140 In a letter to a friend, Seward divulged her scheme: AS to Mary Powys, n.d. [c 1771], SJBM, 2001.76.2.
141 Finally, Day wrote to Edgeworth: Edgeworth, RL and M, vol. 1, pp. 241–43.
142 “I saw him continually in company with Honora Sneyd”: Edgeworth, RL and M, vol. 1, pp. 242–43.
143 Written out laboriously over several sheets of paper: Edgeworth, RL and M, vol. 1, pp. 243–45. Day’s marriage proposal and Honora’s reply have not survived, but they are described in detail by RLE in his memoirs.
143 Explaining her decision to Anna, Honora: Seward (1804), p. 30.
144 A few weeks later Major Sneyd: Edward Sneyd’s diaries, Staffordshire RO HM37/40. The third diary, for 1782, shows that Sneyd had accumulated £9,371.1.5 ½ by Christmas 1773 from shares in the Trent and Mersey Canal.
144 “The domestic separation proved very grievous”: AS to Mrs T[emple] June 19, 1796, Seward (1811), vol. 4, p. 217; AS, “Time Past,” written January 1773, in Seward (1810), vol. 1, pp. 87–88.