1791

Thomas Beddoes to Davies Giddy, 1 December 1791

Shiffnall, Decr 1st

My dear Friend

I have lately fallen in with a number of persons of intelligence in various departments; & as I imagine the sun of information peeps but late over your Western hemisphere, I will try to recollect the heads of what I have heard. The siege of Syracuse <by the Romans> not to take you back all at once to too remote a period – happened, I think, a little more than 200 years before our æra. None of those revolutions took place in Sicily, that overwhelm a nation & all its monuments in total destruction. The people remained & their language. The chain of history continued unbroken. Nevertheless Cicero, so soon afterwards, is not a little vain of having pointed out to his countrymen the forgotten tomb of Archimedes. With what congratulations then shall we receive the man who has been fortunate enough to draw aside the veil which oblivion has held for three thousand years over the remains of Troy? Yes, they are brought to light – the ruins of the Scæan gate, the foundation of the walls & of the turrets – & the Aristes Danaum reliquiæ, the tombs of Ajax & Achilles. Tell me, if you possessed the cap of Fortunatus, w^d you transport yourself first to the banks of the Seine or Scamander? For my own part I w^d go to both, but my first flight sh^d not be to either. However, by taking Montmartre <in your way> to Mount Ida you might appease in a small degree the hunger of curiosity by examining – bouche beaute – the ashes of the Telemonian Ajax & the urn which contains them. Though I am indeed sorely grieved to add that according to our last advices the 3^d urn has been melted down with as little compunction as if it had been modern European brass instead of antient Asiatic Orichaleh. Nothing sh^d have tempted me to commit so enormous a sacrilege. – ‘But are you jesting or <seized with a sudden fit of> credulity?’ I am serious I assure you. My information comes – not immediately but through a very pure and short channel – from a [xxxx] judicious & well informed person who spent the last spring & winter at Edinburgh in the capacity of tutor & who unluckily for me had just <on my arrival> quitted this country to go back thither [xxxx] I cannot therefore give you the proofs of this extraordinary discovery so fully & so distinctly as I otherwise might have been able to do; but they will be published in the 3rd vol. of the Edin. Trans^ns The discoverer is a Frenchman His paper was read before the R. S. of Edin: & understand has had great weight with all who have considered it. Whether besides mere situation there are any inscriptions I have not learned.

Now with your leave we will take a trip from Troy back to Birmingham. Some of my friends have a scheme to make nails by machinery. From what I saw I am inclined to believe they will succeed & probably raise a mob, for there are thousands of men & women nailors between Birm^h & this place. A boy as well as I c^d conjecture from the rate of <working of> the present incompleat machine will make 6000 in an hour – You can hardly form an adequate conception of the fanaticism of people at Birm^h. The dissenters are at present collecting information against one or two justices, who are supposed to have given very unequivocal encouragement to the rioters. For this very reason they are favourites with the majority; & in case the prosecution sh^d drop or they sh^d be acquitted upon trial, there is to be a grand illumination, which unless proper precautions are taken, it is apprehended to be the signal for new conflagrations. I conversed with several friends of Church and King and what was no trivial [xxxx] penance I hearkened to their political sentiments. Their ideas exactly resemble a mass of felt. It would be entire loss of labour to disentangle it and put them straight, and if you once had got them so, they will immediately return by their own natural rigidity to their former confusion. Have you seen the affair of your friend Parr & Curtis, the well-appointed Rector of Birm^h in the newspapers? Parr receives abusive anonymous letters, suspects Curtis, writes a [xxxx] scurrilous anonymous letter to him, received an anonymous answer. He now challenges Curtis, who solemnly denies the charge. Parr persists in spite of his protestations. Curtis prints a vindication. The friends of the parties who were present at their meeting contradict Curtis & here the matter rests. I have been very credibly informed that of two clergymen near Birm^h one gave as a toast – D—n to the Dissenters & another said he was sorry the soldiers came so soon to stop the rioters. I dare say the clergymen in your neighbourhood will be so totally unable to conceive the spirit of these reverend zealots that they will disbelieve the facts I relate <shd you [xxxx] mention them. As I called upon Keir on my return, he read me an admirably characteristic letter from a bridle-bit-forger at Wolverhampton to a bellows-maker at Birmingham, intended to persuade these poor deluded wretches to stick close by their work. I will send you a copy as soon as it is printed.

The Society for the Abolition of the slave trade have lately printed a copious extract of 200 close [xxxx] [xxxx] 8^o pages from the evidence given before the H. of Commons. I have received a copy. They are not sold. I have not read it but my sister says the stratagems & violence employed to procure them & the subsequent treatment are beyond all imagination horrible. The acc^t <seems to> put one constantly in mind of Titus Andronicus. And can there be a moment’s doubt of the agonies endured by the minds of these wretches [xxxx] <after> the acc^t from Domingo. Such mad devastation & such a promiscuous massacre cl^d be perpetrated only by beings whom oppression had divested of every attribute of humanity besides the form – But at last it will have an end. There is just reason to hope that in this country the disgraceful traffick which is the parent of these abomination trembles on the verge of extinction. The African merchants themselves I hear have offered to acquiesce in an act which shall prohibit the trade after the expiration of 10 years. The facts which enquiry has brought to light have touched the tender hearts of these gentlemen, it seems. But mark how admirably they have learned to conciliate interest with humanity – how dexterously they entwine the serpent round the dove. Ten years are no trifling portion of a man’s remaining life who is old enough to engage in business. In the mean time many capitals will be withdrawn & none thrown into the trade, so that upon this plan their monopoly will at last make the merchants concerned to afford to desist from the maintenance of the most horrid inhumanity practiced upon the face of the earth. But the Chinese sugars which are <now> often met with in this country, the [xxxx] reasonable prospect of the success of the new African company & the American maple sugar (which I am told by those who have seen it is very fine but not likely to be <soon> sufficient for a great supply) will undermine an evil which our legislature has not virtue enough to extirpate.

I hope my two letters, one charged with the valuable cargo of the case & the other with Trouard’s speech came safe to the hands of the parties. Old Darwin has lately given me a proof that I did not commit an unpardonable offence in laughing at his theory of coal. He invites me pressingly to Derby, subscribes himself my affectionate friend &c but does not this time do me the honour of entrusting me with any of those new ideas which his prolific mind is incessantly producing & what better c^d I expect if instead of nursing them tenderly I have really strangled the callow brood in their helpless condition? I must defer for the present sending the verses talked of – I have not been able to get them copied, but I shall very soon –

I am in some hopes that I have fallen upon a plan of curing the diabetes, a disorder not uncommon but I fear hitherto invariable fatal. We are going to try some experiments on iron at Ketley. I think I have fallen upon a scheme which, if it c^d be executed, w^d make perfect iron. At the same time I verily believe that on acc^t of the imperfection of the manufacturing apparatus & materials it will be of no sort of use – however our experiments may be curious & illustrative –

A person who saw those verses in the paper which I sent you has lately, in compassion I suppose, presented me with a most superb national cockade, which was worn by a considerable member of the Staffordshire Aristocracy on the day of the first meeting of the Nat. Assembly. It is so rich & elegant that no one w^d imagine it belonged to the same design with yours – I wish I had had it a few months sooner.

I think I did not mention spirit of hartshorn to your sister when she asked me what was the best method of removing a dark-coloured incrustation from the teeth. It sh^d be diluted, for if strong, it will excoriate the mouth; the epidermis there being being very tender & soluble – otherwise it is perfectly safe & pleasant – but I think I w^d not use it constantly – At this moment there are several foreigners at Paris whom I wish much to converse with; but I am afraid I shall hardly quit England before Xmas. My mother is not returned and I am afraid she will not relish the scheme. My comp^ts at your house

Yours sincerely

T Beddoes

[on a separate sheet:]

I had just folded up these sheets as your letter came. If you say any thing about the arrival of the case, I have overlooked it, & indeed I cannot before this parcel goes to the R office read your letter with proper attention – but I may suppose since you say nothing to the contrary that it has arrived both safe & sound –

In a few days my amanuensis will again be at my service; then you shall find that I have paid due respect to your chem^l & anatomico-medical hints &c

MS: Cornish Archives MS DG 41/44, 41/45, 41/52
Published [in part]: Stock, pp. 40–41