Autobiography of Mrs. Fletcher

Front matter

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Preface

In going through the first issue of my Mother's Autobiography (which was intended solely for private circulation), with a view to its publication, I have found it extremely difficult to make. any change in the book without injury to its interest. I therefore let it go before the public with very little alteration, from the feeling that although unknown as a writer of books, the use she made of Life has an interest of its own which makes the publication of this volume less presumptuous than it would otherwise have been.

I confess that it is a great pleasure to me to feel that one whose estimate of her own place in the world was always so modest, and who never anticipated the circulation of her Autobiography beyond the circle of her friends and descendants, should still excite so much interest in " the city of her affections " as to make the call for this publication one I was glad to yield to, and I have therefore left the book very much the same as it was, except with the addition of some letters from those among her friends not unknown to the world by their own words and works.

M. R.

Lanckigg, April, 1875.

Part I

Birth at Oxton, January, 1770 —Her mother's death — Her mother's friendship at school — Mrs. Brudenell's history — Happy childhood at Oxton — The Dawson family — Mrs. Brudenell's separation from her husband, 1776— Settles at Oxton — The mother-want supplied by Aunt Dawson — Cousins at Wighill Grange— Happy days there- The Hill family— Her aunt Mary Hill — Her love of hunting cured — Mr. Hill's letter to his son, 1767- Traditions in the Hill family of Grace Hill and Will Hill at Marston Moor — Sir George Savile in 1779 — Traditions of her youthfrtl days — Sampler disclosures — Account of Oxton scenery and May-day festivities — First grief going to Manor School — Life there — Friendships formed there — Leaves school in summer, 1785 — Home life and happiness — Happy Highland tour — Ann Yearsley, E. Anthony, and Sarah Watson the good servant — Death of grandmother, 1787 — First lovers— First meeting with Mr. Fletcher, 1787 — First impressions deepened in 1788 — Rev. E. Cartwright's friendsliip — George Crabbe's visit with his wife — Recollections of John Wesley — Rev. J.Clowes — Second vi.sit to Perth — Visit to Ripon — Lord Grantley — Mr. Fletcher's letter in 1787 — Correspondence continued with Mr. Fletcher — Her father's strong opposition to the marriage — Her engagement — Extract from letters to Mr. Fletcher — Marriage, 16th July, 1791 — Sorrowful feelings—Reflections on that event r— Letter to Miss Cleaver— Mr. Cartwright's lines to E. D. in a blank leaf of Lavater's work Page 1

PART IT.

Early married life and happiness — Letter to Mrs. Laycoek — Edinburgh friendships formed — Society there- Thomas Muir — Her father's first visit in 1792 — Great joy to her — Birth of eldest son in September, 1792 —Visit to Mr. Fletcher's mother in Bannoch, 1793 — Second visit from her father in 1794 — Birth of her daughter Elizabeth — State Trials — Home life and happiness — Benevolent interests — Her father's death in 1798 — First impression of Lyrical Ballads in 1798 — Edinburgh Society in 1802 — Edinburgh Review and Henry Brougham — First visit to London — Friendship formed with Joanna Baillie and Mrs. Barbauld — Summer at Dalnieny — T. Campbell's friendship formed — Her delight in her children —Mr. Brudenell's death — His wife's succession to her estate — Mournful visit to Hebburn — Mrs. Brudenell takes a house at the English Lakes — Summer there — 1806 — Great enjoyment at Belmont — Elizabeth Smith's death — Friend.ship with her mother — Mrs. Brudenell's death, 1806 — Her character — Leaves her estate to Mrs. Fletcher i CONTEXTS.

— The summer of 180T spent tliere — Lord Tankerville's society —Visit to Bamboroiigh— ^'isit to Haggerstone Xiinueiy — Xu Alnwick Castle — Letter to Mrs. Stark from Hebburn— Vis-it in UOS to Liverpool — :Mr. Koscoe — Mr. Eathbone— Mr. Greg's Quarry Bank— 1810 — A country-house at FranktieUl on the Esk— Great enjoyment in walks there, and in society of friends and strangers — ISll — Places her eldest daughter at Mrs. Barbauld's — Letters from Mrs. Barbauld — Letter to her daughter G F. — To Mrs. Stark — From G. F. to her mother on Sarah Watson — Letters from ]Miss Aikin to Mrs. F. — 1815 — From Mrs. Barbauld— From Mrs. Brunton

— First summer at Park Hall — Manner of life there — Benefits of Tadcaster life — Letter from Allan Cunningham- Marriage of eldest daughter, 1814 _ Winter of 1816-17 in Edinburgh — Illness of Grace in April — Death, 16th April, 1817 — Return to Park Hall — Letters on that event . . Page 62

Part III

Marriage of M. A. Fletcher to iliss Claver ing, December, 1817 —Visit to London with her daughters, 1819 — Mrs. Fry and Newgate — Robert Owen — William Godwin — Lord Erskine's visit to Edinburgh — Letters to daughter Mary, 1820 —Summer at Callander — Farmer Buchanan — Letter to Mrs. Stark on Callander summer — Summer at Coniston, 1821 — Death of Mrs. Craik — Account of Allan Cunningham — Letter to him in 1822 — Visits to Miss Kennedy and Mr. and Mrs. Greg, in Cheshire — Professor Smyth of Cambridge, and T E. Cnrrie there- Return to York — Winter there, 1821-22 — Return to Edinburgh, summer 1822 — George IV. 's visit — Mrs. Grant of Laggan's loyalty — Highland gratitude — Sir Walter Scott — Crabbe the poet— William Wolfe Tone — Letter to Mrs. Stark on T. E. Currie — Interest in Home for young delinquents — .Winter of 1822-23 — Maria Edgeworth in Edinburgh — First impressions of her — Take her to Sir R. Liston's — Letters to her daughters on meeting Brougham and Denman — Viewfield incidents — Visit to Honorable Mrs. H. Erskine — Sinclair Culleii's visit — Marquis and Marquise de Bossi — Settle at Auchindinny House, April, 1821 — Enjoyment there — Death of Mrs. Barbauld — Her character — Visit to Edinburgh— 1826-7 — The ''Great Unknown" reveals himself — Letter to Mrs. Laycock — Return to Auchindinny in spring — Hear of Angus Fletcher's illness at Rome — His return home — Recovery there — Jlr. Fletcher's illness — E. Taylor's death — Miles A. Fletcher's serious illness — His letter to his mother — Mr. Fletcher's death — Accoiint of "Dramatic Sketches" printed the winter before — Letters about them —Sinclair CuUen's Lines to E. F., 1826 — Letters to her daughters in 1825 — Letter from T. Campbell on Theodoric Page 133

Part IV

Leave Auchindinny, January, 1829 — Go to Tadcaster — Letter to Dr. F. Boott — Take a cottage at Bilton near Rugby — Our neighbors there— First meeting with Dr. and Mrs. Arnold — Letter to Mrs. Craig — School-house at Rugby — Mr. Keble — Visit of Dr. John Davy — Mrs. Penrose's meeting with

CONTENTS. vu

Mrs. Fletcher — Marriage of Margaret Fletcher and Dr. Dary, on March 8, 1830 — Visit to London and Paris — Visit to the Abb6 Gregoire — General de Lafayette — His kindness — The historian Mignet — Paris and its institutions-Letter to Mrs. Thomson — Miles A. Fletcher's illness — Visit to Edinburgh, and takes charge of his sons, when their parents go to Jersey for winter — Mrs. Fletcher returns to Yorkshire— Letter to her daughter Mary on Yorkshire Election, 1831 — Death of her son Miles, August, 1831 — Letter to Mrs. Davy at Malta — Visit to Coniston and Brougham Hall — Edinburgh winter — First popular Election there — Letter from T. Campbell

— Return to Tadcastur, 1833 — Letter to Mrs. Davy— Take lodgings at Thorney How in July — First knowledge of Easedale — Visit to Southey — See much of Wordsworth — Return to Tadcaster — York meeting in honor of Wilberforce — Death of Aunt Dawson — Her character — Leave Tadcaster, May, 1834 — A month in London —Lord Brougham's kindness — A tour in North Devon, and visit near Ilfracombe — Take a house near Ha wkshead — Return of Dr. and Mrs Davy from Malta — Happy family meeting at Keen Ground in May, 1835 — Take house at Darland Cottage near Chatham — Swiss tour in June and July, 1836 — General La Harpe described in letter to Mrs. Boott — Excursions in Kent — Wordsworth's visit at Darland, August, 1837— Visit to London — First meeting witb Mazzini — Two letters from him to Mrs. F. — Visit at Oxton on the way to Edinburgh — Take villa of Duncliffe — Kindness of friends — Letters from George Ticknor, Boston, and Joanna Baillie — Aunt Mary Hill's illness and death, 1839 — Lancrigg for sale — Dora Wordsworth's letter — Purchase of Lancrigg — Take possession of it. May, 1840 —Walk with Wordsworth in Easedale — Westmoreland workmen — Hartley Coleridge — Mrs. Fletcher's illness, 1842- Dr. Arnold's death — Last winter at Dunclitfe — Return to Lancrigg as a residence — Christmas festivities — Sonnet by Mr. Graves, 15th January, 1845 — Visit to Blackheath, April, 1845 — Mazzini — Visit to Edinburgh, spring 1846 — Dr. Chalmers — Winter at Lancrigg — Spring at Leamington, London, and visits in South — To Lancrigg, May, 1847 — Letter to Mrs. Chapnxan — Letter from Lord Jeffrey, May, 1847

— Her daughter Mary's marriage to Sir John Richardson, August, 1847 — Visit to Liverpool, February ,J184S — Mrs. Rathbone — London and Haslar — Letter to Mrs. Stark — Mary Barton and Mrs. Gaskell — Lines on 1st May, 1849, by E. F.— Letter to Sir J. Richardson — To her daughter Mary — Meeting Chevalier Bunsen — Letters to Mrs. Boott and Mrs. Arnold — Letters to Mrs. Burge and Mrs. Davy — London meeting with Mr. Rogers, April, 1850 — Death and funeral of Wordsworth — Letters to Lady Richardson — Lines on leaving Grasmere Churchyard, April 27, 1850, by E. F. — Letter from Joanna Baillie to Mrs. Fletcher — Letter to Harriet Martineau on Somerset the slave — Letter to her daughter Mary, 1850 — Lord Cockburn to Mrs. F. — Last Edinburgh visit — Her grandson Henry's marriage — Kossuth

— Mrs. Gaskell — Thomas Wright — London — Mazzini — Winter at Haslar

— To Mrs. Arnold, Fox How — To Mrs. Davy on her birthday, 1852 — Letter to same about excursions from Haslar — Return to Lancrigg in April — Visitors there. Sir Edward and Lady Parry — Lord Cockburn's letter to Mrs. F , with his Life of Jelfrey, 1852 — Lines on Wordsworth and his sister — Sonnet to Mrs. Fletcher by R. P. Graves on 84th birthday — Letters to Mrs. Hughes and Mrs. Arnold — Letters from Mazzini — Death of Lord Cockburn

— Letter to Mrs. Hughes — Visit of Mrs. Empson — Meets Lord John Russell, vm CONTENTS.

1854 — SpringrfieM Lodge — "Winter — Letters on the return of troops — Letter on PMward Richardson's death — Last month of housekeeping — Death of Josephine Richardson — lUness and death of E. Davy, 1857 — Last letter to Mrs. Stark, October, 1857 — Increasing depression — Death, 5th February, 1858 — Letter from Rev. R. P. Graves to Lady Richardson . . . Page 180

CONCLUDING CHAPTER Page 327

MEMOIR OF GRACE FLETCHER, BY HER Mother .... Page 341

MEMOIR OF ARCHIBALD FLETCHER, Advocate, by his

Widow Page 361

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AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MRS. FLETCHER.