Thomas Beddoes to Davies Giddy, 8 February 1792

I thank you for your last letter. But however much I was satisfied with the contents, I believe I blushed & I am sure I felt an unpleasant emotion when I read the direction. Perhaps there was no occasion for the one or the other, but they were involuntary –

You will see the nature of the deliberations of this Nat. Assⁿ by the enclosed papers. I thought it w^d be best to send the whole of a debate on some important question. I promised in your name that you shd return the papers as soon as possible. I thought you c^d direct them to some M.P. in London & desire him to forward them to me, I c^d wish to know what you approve & what you blame in the speeches & in the conduct of the Assembly on this occasion.

I am strongly of opinion that it is almost always possible to prevent women from sliding from frivolity to fanaticism. For this purpose a good deal of attention & intercourse is undoubtedly necessary. I have seen this lately exemplified where the party was so far gone as to talk of the raptures of illumination – of regeneration & the finger of god touching her heart. I have also been informed that Darwin succeeds perfectly in such cases; this refers to the beginning of your letter & undoubtedly if we are to regulate the mind, we must understand its mechanism. Knowledge alone can confer power here as elsewhere.

I see your name in the Gazette again the same paper contains indications of the conspiracy of the Despots. If the conduct of two great personages to the Bishop of Autun is fairly stated, I envy him the painful pleasure of his feelings. Had his principles needed confirmation, they w^d have been confirmed by the indignation he must have felt at that moment – I must finish not like the expiring heroes of tragedy for want of breath but for want of ink

Thomas Beddoes

Address: Davies Giddy Esq^r / ~~Tredrea~~ / ~~Marazion~~ / Cornwall <Mrs Flamanks / Bodmin> // Shiffnal, February, eighth, 1792 / Free Tho^s Whitmore
Endorsement: Doctor Beddoes / 1792 / Feb^y the 8^th
MS: Cornish Archives MS DG 41/39>

The full versions of these letters with textual apparatus will be published by Cambridge University Press.