Thomas Beddoes to Davies Giddy, 2 November 1791
Exeter 2 Nov: <1791 DG>
No 1
Now since I am got under way after quitting the station where I lay so long, just like the
Non missura cutem, misi plena cruoris, hirudo –
I shall advance rapidly onwards & indeed I already consider myself as almost arrived at the place of my destination. Meanwhile as it will no expence of money to you nor of very precious time to me, I sit down to tell you how I came hither, and what I have met with at Exeter. I am afraid my materials unless I shd distort their shape or size which I shall not condescend to do, will not furnish a very engaging narrative, but let Fortune bear half the blame at least. Neither our truckle bed in the corner at St Agnes nor my unquiet bed fellow nor the searching east wind that buffeted us so as we wandered among the moors felt so comfortless as the stay at Bodmin after your departure. I was amused however on Monday morning with the fair of St Lawrence. The movements of the sheep, their sellers & buyers with the spectators in a fine spacious field from which there was an open prospect on all sides exhibited a very lively spirited scene, & very unlike ordinary fairs where the cattle are crammed into a narrow dirty street. Fairs shd always be held in such places. I saw the Doctor’s demolished wear: for God’s sake why does not your father make him renew it if it was worth £50 a year! I shd have enjoyed a pleasant ride much better if I had not been under just apprehensions that the coach wd not afford me any inside place of late it had been generally full & another person had been 3 days beforehand with me in bespeaking the first vacant seat; & the wind piped so chilling a tune <in my face> that I shd not have ventured to put in practice the resolution I had formed of encountering it on the top rather than wait any longer. To stay at Bodmin till Wednesday, notwithstanding the temptation of being present at a christening at Mrs Phillips’s [xxxx] [xxxx] [xxxx], was an idea against which my heart heaved. At last I reconciled myself by this scheme: [xxxx] very kindly offered to send me horses to Launceston; & from thence to Exeter I promised myself an agreeable walk & I really felt somewhat disappointed on being informed that there was one place at my service in the coach. At parting from my inoffensive host I cd not help making one reflection. If he shd succeed in any of his matrimonial schemes, he may promise himself a degree of happiness beyond the [xxxx] [xxxx] [xxxx] common lot of mortals, provided the chosen fair shd in any degree possess the art
‘Well ordered home man’s best delight to make’.
Being seated with my back towards the horses (which in cold windy weather is the best side of the coach especially when you are windward bound) & the moors offering but few objects for observation, I had abundance of time & opportunities to cast as many westward looks as I might find convenient. My companions of the journey were not over-engaging. A servant of [xxxx] in livery was as disagreeable as forwardness, foolishness & a breath fully impregnated with brandy can well make a man from whom you cannot budge four feet. A poor invalid of a king’s messenger was an harmless character of insipid civility; he had posted through the world without having seen or desiring to see any one object distinctly. From what he said I gathered that he had been despatched on an errand relating to the Howe packet, in which the intrepid Dutchess of Northumberland is going to Lisbon with the amiable intention of nursing her dying husband. Unfortunately our gallant messenger was fully possessed with the importance he derived from being engaged in the service of so great a lady; & our ears were tired long before his tongue with ‘My Lady Dutchess’ & ‘Her Grace’. Unfortunately too, we were driven to the inn at Launceston where Her Grace & Her Grace’s train had occupied all the beds & all the attention of the people. At length after shivering full 2 hours in a large room freely traversed by the Eastern breezes till beds cd be procured for us in the town, we were marched out; & it fell to my lot to be separated from a noisy party that sate up a good part of the night by a partition of boards. We had had a most tedious journey to Launceston – from 3 to near 10 – in consequence of waiting 2 hours at the Jamaica inn in the midst of the moors for another coach. On this side of Launceston the rising sun spread out the beautifully varied scenes of Devonshire; & her woods, her green meadows, her cultivated swells & her clear streams cd not fail to amuse an eye that had been so long accustomed to the dreary desolation of Cornwall. This morning too I found the ferocity of my remaining companion considerably mitigated: he was a 2nd Lieutt of the Victory. At first I found his mind more than half choaked with that rank weed of false pride which induces so many of our naval & military officers to consider themselves as unconnected with the nation & in a kind of opposition to their fellow-citizens because they wear the title of kings’ servants; just as in times past spiritual pride hardened the hearts of the servants of the Lord against the trampled & plundered laity. The evening before the Lieutenant’s answers to some questions I had put were short, reluctant & delivered with that tone of superiority which bears too much the semblance of insolence. He now opened freely; & as he had seen much service & allowing for his prejudices was a very sensible man. I learned a good deal of the internal economy of ships & the police of the navy. He had served all last war in the W. Indies & had abundance of anecdotes to tell of the transactions there. But French courage, French conduct, French morals & the French dogs themselves he considered with the most heartfelt contempt. I think I had heard before that De Grasse after striking his flag went down into his cabin & slept very composedly for several hours: was there any thing very anonmalous in this: might he not have been exhausted & overpowered by the excessive fatigue of mind & body he had undergone? On taking possession of the ship our men found a number of French sailors who had taken advantage of the disorder on board to get at the store of spirits: they were a little noisy & did not immediately on being ordered observe a profound silence, in consequence of which the English began to fell them with the but ends of their muskets as much to their diversion as if they had been so many noddies.
A few minutes after taking possession of a room at the Oxford inn Sheldon, whom I had sent for came in. when behold shortly afterwards, while we were in the high tide of rapid questions & answers, John enters & enquires whether I go to London tomorrow: ‘No, John; but what is the reason of your question?’ Sir Christr Hawkins sent me to you to enquire: he has been here several days & sets out for London in the morn’n.’ ‘How does he travel?’ ‘He came here in his own chaise with post horses.’ ‘My compts: I shall go to Bath, but cannot set out tomorrow. Tell him, if he shall be at liberty in about half an hour I should be glad to have a few minutes’ conversation with him’. That conversation was not very interesting. We talked politics chiefly. But I missed those distinctly shaped & well arranged ideas to which I have been lately so much accustomed & I am afraid in spite of the charity of my nation I shall judge unfavourably of those with whom I may happen to converse for some time to come. We perfectly agreed in our ideas of the services which the dignified clergy have rendered to mankind & which their lazy pride will ever render as long as they shall be suffered to exist. Sir C. most cordially applied the general character to the drones that hive about the cathedral here, with whom he has been transacting business very little, as I conjecture, to his satisfaction. I suppose I gave him some offence by [there follow three deleted lines] <assuring him that in my opinion the observations he had collected were trifling & inaccurate & sometimes laughable & that they were not digested according to any plan. Of course they cd not> interest persons acquainted with mineralogy nor instruct the ignorant. This had an harsh sound, but I did not know how to soften so simple a truth. Still less cd I make him sensible of it; & I felt no inclination to attempt to open to him those views of the subject upon which so severe a critical sentence was founded. Indeed if Sheldon had informed me of his design to send to Polwhele, I wd have prevented him. At present I wish you wd not mention what I conceive to be the leading idea of the Physical Geography of the West of England, that Dartmore shd be regarded as the centre of lifting xxxx I may make use of this view of the subject some time or other & perhaps if it gets abroad, I shall seem to take my own property from some other person.
On returning to the inn, I find out Sir Ch’s reason for making the above-mentioned enquiry. He went in the Bath mail this morning; & I suppose had an intention to propose to me to take half a chaise to London –
I am glad to see that the paper will not allow me to expose my awkwardness in framing compliments; & I surely will not sacrifice a fresh sheet to any such unworthy purpose.
Thomas Beddoes
Endorsement: Dr Beddoes / 1791 / Novr the 2d
MS: Cornish Archives MS DG 41/9
Published [in part]: Stock, pp. 33–35