CHAPTER LX. PERSONAL HISTORY, 1846. To Professor Reed. 'My dear Mr. Reed, 'Rydal Mount, Jan. 23, 1846. I hope to be able to send you an impression of an engraving, from a picture of Mr. Haydon, representing me in the act of climbing Helvellyn. There is great merit in this work, and the sight of it will show my meaning on the subject of expression. This, I think, is attained; but, then, I am stooping, and the inclination of the head necessarily causes a foreshortening of the features below the nose, which takes from the likeness accordingly; so that, upon the whole, yours has the advantage, especially under the circumstance of your never having seen the original. Mrs. Wordsworth has been looking over your letters in vain to find the address of the person in London, through whose hands any parcel for you might be sent. Pray take the trouble of repeating the address in your next letter, and your request shall be attended to of sending you my two letters upon the offensive subject of a Railway to and through our beautiful neighbourhood. 'You will be sorry to hear that Mrs. Wordsworth and I have been, and still are, under great trouble and anxiety. Our daughter-in-law fell into bad health between three and four years ago. She went with her husband to Madeira, where they remained nearly a year; she was then advised to go to Italy. After a prolonged residence there, her six children, whom her husband returned to England for, went, at her earnest request, to that country, under their father's guidance: there he was obliged, on account of his duty as a clergyman, to leave them. Four of the number resided with their mother at Rome, three of whom took a fever there, of which the youngest, as noble a boy, of nearly five years, as ever was seen, died, being seized with convulsions when the fever was somewhat subdued. The father, in a distracted state of mind, is just gone back to Italy; and we are most anxious to hear the result. My only surviving brother, also, the late Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, and an inestimable person, is in an alarming state of health; and the only child of my eldest brother, long since deceased, is now languishing under mortal illness at Ambleside. . He was educated to the medical profession, and caught his illness while on duty in the Mediterranean. He is a truly amiable and excellent young man, and will be universally regretted. These sad occurrences, with others of like kind, have thrown my mind into a state of feeling, which the other day vented itself in the two sonnets, which Mrs. Wordsworth will transcribe as the best acknowledgment she can make for Mrs. Reed's and your kindness. • Ever faithfully and affectionately yours, 'WM. WORDSWORTH.' 'Why should we weep or mourn, angelic boy, Holy and ever dutiful — beloved From day to day, with never-ceasing joy, And hopes as dear as could the heart employ But heaven is now, blest child, thy spirit's home.. 'Where lies the truth? has man in wisdom's creed A care more anxious, or a heavier grief? God's bounty, soon forgotten? or indeed Who that lies down and may not wake to sorrow, But o'er the contrast wherefore heave a sigh? our aim Through life's worst trials, whether shocks or snares, To Professor Reed. 'My dear Mr. Reed, 'February 3, 1846. 'I was much shocked to find that my last had been despatched without acknowledgment for your kindness in sending me the admirable engraving of Bishop White, which I was delighted, on many accounts, to receive. This omission was owing to the distressed state of mind in which I wrote, and which I throw myself on your 1 Vol. v. p. 134. VOL. II. 28 2 Vol. iv. p. 142. goodness to excuse. I ought to have written again by next post, but we really have been, and still are, in such trouble from various causes, that I could not take up the pen, and now must beg you to accept this statement as the only excuse which I can offer. We have had such accounts from my daughter-in-law at Rome, that her mother and brother are just gone thither to support her, her mother being seventy years of age. 'Do you know anything of a wretched set of religionists in your country, Superstitionists I ought to say, called Mormonites, or latter-day saints? Would you believe it? a niece of Mrs. Wordsworth's has just embarked, we believe at Liverpool, with a set of the deluded followers of that wretch, in an attempt to join their society. Her name is woman of good abilities, and well edu9 young cated, but early in life she took from her mother and her connections a methodistical turn, and has gone on in a course of what she supposes to be piety till she has come to this miserable close. If you should by chance hear anything about her, pray let us know. a 'The report of my brother's decease, which we look for every day, has not yet reached us. My nephew is still lingering on from day to day. Ever faithfully and affectionately yours, 'WM. WORDsworth. The print of Bishop White is noble, everything, indeed, that could be wished.' Mr. Wordsworth's brother his only surviving brother whose approaching dissolution he apprehended when he wrote the last letter, was the Rev. Christopher Wordsworth, D. D., formerly Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, and, after his retirement from that office in 1841, resident at Buxted, Sussex, of which parish he was rector. He departed this life on the 2d day of February, 1846, in the 72d year of his age, and was buried in Buxted churchyard. Some incidental notices of his life and character have been inserted in these pages. His career was an active one, very different in character, and far removed by distance, from that of his brother William, and, consequently, their personal intercourse was not frequent. But the feelings of the two brothers towards each other were those of high respect and tender affection. Dr. Wordsworth's estimate of his brother's poetry has been already recorded. The Poet's volumes were his constant companions, and, it is unnecessary to add, were an exhaustless source of delight and refreshment to his mind. Dr. Wordsworth's literary labours were mainly of a professional kind. In the year 1802, when a junior fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, he published Six Letters to Granville Sharp, Esq., respecting his remarks on the Uses of the Definitive Article in the Greek Text of the New Testament,' a volume which was honoured with the eulogies of Bishop Horsley and Bishop Middleton. In 1809 appeared the first edition of his Ecclesiastical Biography,' in six volumes, octavo, which was reprinted in 1818, and (with additions) in 1839, in four volumes. The design of this work was to present an historical view of the Church in England from the earliest times to the Revolution, mainly in the form of lives of eminent These volumes are enriched with valuable annotations from the editor's pen. Frequent references to this work will be found in the notes attached to his brother's men. 1 See above, Vol. I. p. 31; Vol. II. p. 96. |