Hayley-XXI-70

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Derby Oct 14th. 1792

My dear H

I have now two pleasant letters to thank you for as that which ought to have arrived at Lichfield on Thursday fortnight followed me hither from thence two days after my return. It has no appearance of having wandered but strong marks of having been opened. However (as you say) there is no treason in it, & as it is arrived I am contented, since whatever you write is too good to be lost, & I had continued to regret it tho I had fresher assurances of health on the preceding day.

I can readily imagine how painful it must have been both for you & Cowper to part after so comfortable an intercourse The Bishop of Bristol (of whom you probably heard your new Friend speak) paid a morning visit to Miss Seward, & we rejoiced together

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on your intimacy & upon your having tempted the timid Cowper from his Cell which as he observed was an event that had delighted & astonished all his acquaintance. He gave us a very interesting account of his life & of his having been attached to a Lady of his own name who continues single for his sake. You have no doubt heard this history from himself & I hope you agree with Mr. Madan (the Bishop’s son) & me that the fair Theodora is entitled to a place in the Essay on Old Maids. The Bishop desired his compliments & warmly expressed a wish that you & Cowper were of our party. Your comparison of the Lichfield society after that of Parkgate was perfectly just. I had the good fortune to meet there my favorite Dr. Vyse who came thither with his sister a few days after my arrival to keep

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a short residence, & I spent an hour with M^rs. Knowles who has passed her summer in that neighbourhood. My Derby friends have been many of them much agitated in my absence & indeed I am much grieved myself by the public disgrace of M^r. I Bateman whom you probably recollect in the Morledge. [?] he stands accused of writing anonymous letters to half the town & country with the most malicious intent[ion?] his most intimate friends & even his children have not escaped but it is too long a story as I have no frank at present

In my next I will inclose a riddle for Tom whom I am glad to find has a companion as I know he loves society but you never mentioned to me more visitors than Cowper & his venerable Muse since you spoke of the departure of Romney. I was therefore surprised at your mention of the two boys attending the two carriages into the North wood on the morning of their departure.

I drank dear Tom’s health on his birthday

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& I have looked at his picture with fresh pleasure but it is still at M^r Coke’s as I determine to attend it to M^r Wright’s in its road home & I have been confined to the house some days by cutting a corn too close which has inflamed & made me very feverish. I hear M^r. Wright

William Hayley Esq^re.
Eartham
near
Chichester

is much the better for his jaunt to Liverpool & that he is going on with D^r. Darwin’s portrait but he never leaves home in the Winter & I wish him to see my enchanting Fairy tho I do not expect him to see it with any enthusiasm

With love to the Original I am y^r sincere Eliza Hayley