How to Create the Perfect Wife

by Wendy Moore

  145 a summer archery contest: Edgeworth, RL and M, vol. 1, pp. 246–49.

  145 He had drawn swooning debutantes; jump clear over a dining table: Edgeworth, RL and M, vol. 1, p. 92; Harriet Butler to Michael Pakenham Edgeworth, September 13, 1838, cited in Butler (1972), p. 41.

  146 It was as the air of a country dance: Edgeworth, RL and M, vol. 1, pp. 247–49.

  146 Elizabeth was “very pretty, very sprightly”: Seward (1804), pp. 30–31.

  147 Having grown up with cousins: Elizabeth Sneyd had been brought up in Shrewsbury in the care of her cousin Susannah Powys and her husband Henry, whose daughter Mary Powys—or “Po”—was AS’s friend and regular correspondent.

  147 Anna Seward captured one such gathering in late July: AS to Mary Powys, July 13 and 19, 1771, SJBM, 2001.76.3.

  147 Watching his friend fall under Elizabeth’s spell: Edgeworth, RL and M, vol. l, p. 249.

  148 In the same way that artists, writers and philosophers: Carter; Barker-Benfield; Davis, Leith, The Polite Academy, or School of Behaviour for Young Gentlemen and Ladies (London, 1762); Towle, Matthew, The Young Gentleman and Lady’s Private Tutor (Oxford; London, 1770); Philpot, Stephen, An Essay on the Advantages of a Polite Education Joined with a Learned One (London, 1747). Barker-Benfield discusses Day specifically on pp. 149–53.

  150 “It is the graceful Motion of the Body in Walking”: Philpot, p. 68.

  150 Laurence Sterne had fun depicting a French peasant: The books by Sterne, Mackenzie and Brooke are discussed in Barker-Benfield, pp. 142–49.

  150 It was Day’s favorite novel: Gignilliat, p. 264. Brooke, Henry, The Fool of Quality, or the History of Henry Earl of Moreland (5 vols., London, 1765–70). Day and Brooke had much in common besides a shared penchant for sentimental tales. Brooke trained as a lawyer at the Temple but was recalled to Ireland at the age of 17 by an aunt on her deathbed who begged him to become guardian to her beautiful 12-year-old daughter, Catherine. Brooke placed the orphan in a boarding school in Dublin, but within two years he eloped with her and they secretly married. The couple had 23 children, of whom only two lived to adulthood, before Catherine herself died, leaving Brooke heartbroken for the remaining ten years of his life. Brooke’s tragic life is described by his daughter Charlotte in the preface to his poetical works. Brooke, Henry, The Poetical Works . . . of Henry Brooke, ed. Brooke, Charlotte (Dublin, 1792).

  151 Leaving Elizabeth to her books: TD to AS, August 31, 1771, SJBM, 2001.71.60. In this letter Day refers to having left Lichfield 2 weeks before.

  151 Having returned to Paris the previous year: Rousseau lived on the 5th floor (by British reckoning; the 6th floor in American and Continental terms) of 60 rue Plâtrière, since renamed rue Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Damrosch, pp. 466. His assimilation back into Parisian intellectual society and his lifestyle in Paris are described in Damrosch, pp. 463–76.

  152 Climbing the steep, dark stairs: Edgeworth, RL and M, vol. 1, pp. 252–54. RLE describes the visit to Rousseau and Rousseau’s walk with Dick.

  152 One visitor who was struck by this picture: Bentley, p. 67.

  153 Rousseau returned to his visitors: Edgeworth, RL and M, vol. 1, pp. 252–54.

  153 Moving rapidly on, the party: Edgeworth, RL and M, vol. 1, p. 255.

  153 Since his father was busy directing teams: Edgeworth, RL and M, vol. 1, pp. 268–74. Edgeworth describes the fluctuations of Dick’s education in France.

  155 Meanwhile, lessons were proving equally: Day’s education is described by RLE and AS. Edgeworth, RL and M, vol. 1, pp. 255–56, 267–68 and 308–9; Seward (1804), p. 31.

  155 One acquaintance later said that Day: Kippis.

  156 Writing from Lyon, he complained: TD to AS, November 13, 1771, William Salt Library, S.MS 478/4/46.

  156 “I am a lac’d coat, a bag”: TD to AS, December 18, 1771, LRO, D262/1/6.

  157 In a rambling, almost incoherent letter: TD to AS, begun December 31, 1771, finished January 1, 1772, SJBM, 2001.71.16.

  158 The correspondence at least brought some: AS to Mary Powys, n.d. (c. 1771–72), SJBM, 2001.76.4.

  158 Anna’s fortunes had taken a tumble: Barnard, pp. 69–71; Hopkins, pp. 112–18.

  158 For the moment Seward had little: AS to Dorothy Sykes, SJBM, May 1773 2001.72.1.

  159 Meanwhile, Edgeworth, at least, seemed ready: Edgeworth, RL and M, vol. 1, p. 267; Butler, Marilyn (1972), p. 43. RLE wrote a contrite letter to Anna Maria in December 1771 in which he insisted he had already written to tell her he had decided to remain in Lyon. She must have joined him soon after in early 1772.

  159 After nearly a year of being groomed, coached and bullied: Edgeworth, RL and M, vol. 1, p. 268; Seward (1804), pp. 31–32; TD to AS, dated March 14, 1771 (but probably 1772), SJBM, 2001.71.17. It is hard to date with certainty when Day returned from France to claim the hand of Elizabeth Sneyd. The various accounts conflict, in particular the letter from Day to AS, which he dated March 14, 1771, but which must have been written at a later date, most probably March 14, 1772. In this he refers to having been rejected by Elizabeth (and undergoing his training in polite manners); since she had not appeared in Lichfield before the summer of 1771, he could not have written the letter before then. He also discusses AS’s misery over her parents’ refusal to let her see Saville and the contempt shown by some people in Lichfield for Saville; these events erupted in early 1772. Day dated other letters erroneously too. The letter is cited in Hopkins, p. 156, where it is also dated March 14, 1772, without any discussion over the discrepancy.

  159 Some of them merely “lamented, very pathetically”: Kippis.

  159 “The studied bow on entrance”: Seward (1804), pp. 31–32.

  160 A furious and tearful row: Domestic accounts of Mrs. Anne Sneyd, 1765–1782, Staffordshire RO, HM24/3. Anne Sneyd was a niece of Edward Sneyd, who looked after his daughter Mary when her mother died. Her accounts refer to “assembly for myself and Miss E Sneyd” in March 1772. Day’s poem, “Celia,” at the end of his letter to AS describes the angry words and tears. TD to AS, dated March 14, 1771 [but probably 1772], SJBM, 2001.71.17.

  160 Even Darwin’s son, also named Erasmus: Erasmus Darwin Jr. to Robert Waring Darwin [1776], cited in Uglow, p. 321.

  160 a mock court case entitled “The Trial of A. B.”: Day, Thomas and Esther (1805), pp. 75–90.

  161 Retreating back to Paris: TD to Anna Seward, dated March 14, 1771 [but probably 1772], SJBM, 2001.71.17.

  161 Mixing in Parisian intellectual circles, Day met Amélie Suard: ME (1979), pp. 31 and 40, citing letters from RLE to Charlotte Sneyd, November 18, 1802, and ME to Margaret Ruxton, December 1, 1802. Meeting M. and Mme Suard, RLE wrote: “Would you believe it, Mr. Day paid his court to her thirty years ago?” ME wrote that she had met Mme Suard “with whom it is said Mr. Day was in love—.”

  162 Stopping at an inn in the town: “An Ode supposed to have been written on an Inn Window in Sutton-Coldfield, and signed T. D., July 24, 1772,” Pearson papers, 577, UCL Special Collections. I am indebted to Desmond King-Hele for drawing my attention to this poem, which he found among a collection of papers belonging to Erasmus Darwin.

  162 Rousseau, for one, had scribbled: Damrosch, pp. 457–58.

  163 Soon afterward, Edgeworth was warned: Edgeworth, RL and M, vol. 1, pp. 310–12.

  163 In the New Year Edgeworth made one last: RLE to Anna Maria Edgeworth, January 12, 1773, cited in Butler, Marilyn (1972) p. 45.

  163 It was probably the last letter: Anna Maria Edgeworth was buried on March 30, 1773, at Black Bourton. Black Bourton parish register.

  163 Maria, now five, would remember: Edgeworth, FA, pp. 1–2.

  163 Edgeworth received the news: AS wrote to Dorothy Sykes in May 1773 to say that Edgeworth was still in France “unless this event has brought him over within the last fortnight.” AS to Dorothy Sykes, May 1773, SJBM, 2001.72.1.

  164 Poor little Maria, bereft: Harriet Butler to Michael Pakenham Edgeworth, January 3, 1838, cited in Butler, Marilyn
(1972), p. 46.

  164 A letter from Day awaited him: Edgeworth, RL and M, vol. 1, pp. 318–21; AS to Dorothy Sykes, May 1773, SJBM, 2001.72.1.

  164 Scandalizing many of their friends and relations: AS describes the wedding and the reactions of friends and family in two letters. AS to Dorothy Sykes, July 27, 1773, and AS to Mary Powys, n.d. (c. July 1773), SJBM, 2001.72.3 and 2001.76.5.

  165 she now enjoyed “the utmost happiness”: AS to Dorothy Sykes, July 27, 1773, SJBM, 2001.72.3.

  165 Her beloved Saville had now left his family home: Hopkins, p. 114; Sherwood, p. 80.

  165 Destined therefore to live a single life: AS to Dorothy Sykes, July 27, 1773, SJBM, 2001.72.3.

  166 Day suffered more stoically: Edgeworth, RL and M, vol. 1, pp. 321–25.

  CHAPTER 8: SABRINA

  169 The Dying Negro related the true story: TD and JB, The Dying Negro (W. Flexney, London, 1773). All quotes are taken from the first edition of 1773 unless otherwise stated. The original news item was published in the Morning Chronicle on May 28, 1773. The 1793 edition denotes which lines were written by Bicknell and which by Day, according to a manuscript in Esther Day’s possession. Of the 441 total lines in the 1793 edition, Bicknell wrote 181 and Day 260. The poem was reviewed in the Monthly Review, July 1773, p. 63. The poem and its contribution to the abolition movement are discussed in Carey, pp. 73–84, and Kitson, Peter J., and Lee, Debbie et al., eds, Slavery, Abolition and Emancipation: writings in the British romantic period (8 vols., London, 1995), vol. 4, pp. 9. Brycchan Carey hosts a useful website on British abolitionists: http://www.brycchancarey.com. General information on slaves in London in the eighteenth century is from Gerzina.

  170 Bicknell had just become a commissioner of bankrupts: Bicknell’s appointment as one of the commissioners of bankrupts was announced in July 1773: Lloyd’s Evening Post, July 19, 1773. He surrendered his chambers at 1 Garden Court on May 15, 1773: MT archives, Box 93, bundle 4, 27. Bicknell advertised his services from chambers at New Court in various London newspapers from 1774 onward.

  170 Middle Temple had been a magnet for settlers from the American colonies: For background information on the history of Middle Temple and its American connections see Stockdale and Holland; Stockdale; Macassey. Many thanks to Eric Stockdale for his hospitality and help in exploring Middle Temple’s colorful past.

  171 “Pray have you read the dying Negro”: AS to Mary Powys, n.d. (c. July 1773), SJBM, 2001.76.5.

  174 he took lodgings with his old university chum William Jones: Cannon, pp. 55–56. Middle Temple archives have no record of Day living at Pump Court—he was probably an unofficial tenant of Jones. Records show Day later leased chambers in Elm Court.

  174 “the practice of rearing and killing animals for food”: Keir, pp. 131–32. The spider anecdote is described in Cannon, pp. 55–56.

  174 He had met Benjamin Franklin: Franklin was a friend of Darwin and Small; he had originally introduced Small to Boulton in 1765. Franklin first met Day on a tour of the Midlands and north in May 1771, in Lichfield. He had originally arrived in England in 1757 with two slaves, named Peter and King, but when King absconded Franklin seemed happy to hear that he had been adopted by a kindly Englishwoman who was educating him in Suffolk. By 1772 Franklin had become an ardent critic of slavery. In a letter to the London Chronicle of June 18–20, 1772, he attacked the British for celebrating the freeing of one slave when 850,000 more were enslaved in England and its colonies. Labaree, Leonard W., ed., The Papers of Benjamin Franklin (40 vols., New Haven; London, 1959–1973), vol. 18, pp. 113–16 and 187–88; and vol. 19, pp. 210–12; King-Hele (1999), p. 100. For more on Franklin see Isaacson’s biography and Skemp, Sheila L., Benjamin and William Franklin: father and son, patriot and loyalist (Boston, 1994).

  174 Meeting at Franklin’s lodgings in Craven Street: Williams; Robinson, Eric, “R. E. Raspe, Franklin’s ‘Club of Thirteen,’ and the Lunar Society,” Annals of Science, 11 (1955), pp. 142–44. The quotes from Williams are from his wonderful autobiography with additional research by Peter France.

  175 he would later set up the Royal Literary Fund: The Literary Fund was established by Williams in 1790 and became the Royal Literary Fund in 1842. It survives to this day.

  176 Mounting anger at Britain’s determination to tax: See Isaacson, pp. 249–50 and 276–78 for Franklin’s dressing down by the Privy Council and passim for the slow evolution of his support for complete independence from Britain. For general background on the American war of independence see Ferling; Rakove; and Black, Jeremy, War for America: the fight for independence 1775–1783 (Stroud, UK; New York, 1994).

  176 Discussing the vexed question of independence with American friends: The Middle Temple Buttery Book shows that Day began dining in the hall from April 1774 at the same time as various American students including John Laurens, Thomas Pinckney and John F. Grimké. MT Buttery Book 3, 1773–76, MT7/BUB/3.

  176 hundreds of thousands of slaves were working cotton: Rakove, p. 206.

  176 Many of the most prominent Americans lobbyingfor independence: Ferling, Setting the World Ablaze, pp. 44, 48 and 54; Bernstein, R. B., Thomas Jefferson (New York, 2003), p. 111. Re Jefferson see also http://www.monticello.org/site/plantation-and-slavery/thomas-jefferson-and-sally-hemings-brief-account.

  176 walking the streets of Georgian London with black slaves: For fascinating background on Americans living in London in the eighteenth century and specific details on their ownership of slaves see Flavell, p. 91 and passim; and Gerzina. Also see Flavell, Julie, “A New Tour of Georgian London’s Fleet Street Shows: Its mixed race American side” at http://yalepress.wordpress.com/2011/ll/16/.

  177 reprint of the popular poem: TD and JB, The Dying Negro (2nd edn., London, 1774). And see Carey, pp. 73–84. Day wrote 44 of the extra 54 lines and Bicknell 10. The preface to the 1793 edition states that Day wrote the entire dedication, but it seems likely that he consulted Bicknell, judging from his references to it in his letter to JB from The Hague, which is included in the third edition. TD and JB, The Dying Negro (3rd edn., London, 1793).

  178 she had “gained the esteem” of her teachers: Seward (1804), p. 36; AS states that Sabrina was at school for three years.

  178 Instead Day brusquely informed her: TD to SS, May 4, 1783, ERO, D/DBa C13. There is no trace of any Parkinsons working as dressmakers in surviving records. My thanks to archivists of the Victoria and Albert Museum for checking. For background information on the work of mantua-makers see Buck, Anne, Dress in Eighteenth-century England (London, 1979); and same, “Mantuamakers and Milliners: women making and selling clothes in eighteenth-century Bedfordshire,” in Bedfordshire Historical Miscellany, 72 (1993), pp. 142–55.

  179 Day made plain both to Sabrina and to the Parkinsons: TD to SS, May 4, 1783, ERO, D/DBa C13. The following quotes are all from this letter, which was probably a draft.

  179 According to Seward, Sabrina had matured: Seward (1804), p. 36.

  180 “a beauty” in the words of Dr. Small: William Small to James Watt, October 19, 1771, Soho archives: Boulton Papers, MS 340/17.

  181 Sending letters back to Bicknell and his mother: TD to JB, August 4, 1774, printed in TD and JB, The Dying Negro (3rd edn., London, 1793), pp. v–viii; TD to Jane Phillips (his mother), August 10, 1774, printed in Lowndes (1825–27), vol. 2, pp. 3–5.

  182 they published a satirical attack on plans to provide music lessons: Collier, Joel (pseudonym for John Bicknell), Musical Travels through England (London, 1774); Lonsdale, Roger, “Dr. Burney, ‘Joel Collier,’ and Sabrina,” in Ribeiro, Alvaro and Wellek, René, eds., Evidence in Literary Scholarship: essays in memory of James Marshall Osborn (Oxford, 1979), pp. 281–308. In this fascinating essay, Lonsdale suggests that Bicknell alone wrote the first and second editions, on the basis that Day was abroad when they were published, and that the pair collaborated on the third edition. A friend of Bicknell, Francis Douce, however, stated that Day and Bicknell wrote the tract together. Since the pamphlet smacks so pl
ainly of their combined views, it seems highly likely it was a collaboration in some form.

  184 “a spirit of discord pervading the country”: Williams, p. 17.

  184 John Laurens enrolled as a student at Middle Temple: John Laurens to Henry Laurens, January 20, 1775, in Laurens, vol. 9, pp. 587–88; vol. 10, p. 34. John Laurens described Charles Bicknell as “the merest machine in the world—the most barren in Conversation and least calculated to improve, of any Man I ever was connected with” but he found John Bicknell far more likable. “The elder brother is a sensible Fellow, and I cultivate his acquaintance as much as possible.” When Henry Laurens arrived in London in 1771, he brought a slave called Scipio, who changed his name to Robert to blend in better with English domestic life. Other information on Henry and John Laurens is from Laurens; Jones, E. Alfred, American Members of the Inns of Court (London, 1924); Massey, Gregory D., John Laurens and the American Revolution (Columbia, SC, 2000); Stockdale (2005), Stockdale and Holland; Flavell, pp. 7–113; Rakove, pp. 198–238, especially pp. 200–218.

  185 In an eloquent and forceful letter to Henry Laurens: TD, Fragment of an Original Letter on the Slavery of the Negroes, written in the year 1776 (London, 1784). This tract was published by Day’s usual publisher John Stockdale. The recipient of Day’s letter is anonymous. In the preface Day wrote that he was induced to write the letter by John Laurens to an American slave owner. It seems most likely that it was Henry Laurens.

  185 “America is our child”: Elizabeth Montagu to Elizabeth Vesey, February 3, 1776, in Montagu, Elizabeth, Mrs. Montagu “Queen of the Blues”: her letters and friendships from 1762 to 1800, ed. Blunt, Reginand (London, 1923), vol. 1, p. 139.

  186 Day told Boulton to “give a sigh to the dead”: TD to Matthew Boulton, March 17, 1775, Soho archives: Boulton Papers, MS 3782/12/81/84.

  186 “My loss is as inexpressable”: Matthew Boulton to James Watt, February 25, 1775, Soho archives: Watt Papers, MS 3219/4/62 and MS 3219/4/66; Keir, pp. 92–93; Uglow, pp. 249–50.

  186 Finding himself dazed and adrift in Lichfield, after Small’s funeral: Edgeworth states that Day reignited his relationship with Sabrina before Small died, but he was almost certainly trying to blur events to protect Day’s reputation in view of his later marriage. Edgeworth, RL and M, vol. 1, p. 332. Day told Sabrina that he revived their relationship “upon the death of Doctor Small.” TD to SS, May 4, 1783, ERO, D/DBa C13.