Thomas Beddoes to Davies Giddy, 26 May 1793 [2]
Dear Giddy
I feel an irresistable propensity to state to you more particulars: I sit down to write at a time in the morning several hours before the first unsuccessful attempt used to be made to rouse you to breakfast at Tredrea. My mind was too much agitated in a conversation last night (or rather this morning for it was past 12) with the subject of the preceding sheet to allow me to sleep – I have been treated in the kindest & most liberal manner by the father. He is of the highest rank of the untitled aristocracy being of an ancient family & the first (in precedence I suppose) Gentleman in the K. of Ireland. But the powers of his understanding & the generosity of his sentiments, which are at the same time under the direction of perfect kindness & great knowledge of the world, are the circumstances which <alone> distinguish him, honourably in my estimation. He had once intended to stay here all summer: but is obliged to return to Ireland soon. He wd have set out next week, but when I spoke to him about his daughter, he took another house – (he had given up the one he had lived in) – & determined to stay a short time longer purely on my acct. I found the mind of the daughter impressed favourably towards me – this I was pretty sure of before I spoke to her – but I had not a conception of the strength of that impression till last night, when I perceived it by signs impossible to be mistaken – Having only a short time to converse with the daughter before the departure of the family, I have <lately been> you may be sure, pretty assiduous in my attendance upon her. After supper, <last night> the father, mother, daughter & myself were sitting in a room apart from the rest of the family. The father who I believe had perceived more clearly the turn his daughter’s inclinations <were taking> than I did, began by saying ‘that it had been his principle by the cultivation of the understanding of his daughters to give them beforehand the power of choosing, though not to direct their choice by his authority <when they were grown up> – & that even if they were to fix upon an improper person, he wd only tell them his opinion; & then says he ‘if the lady chooses to match with the cobler; then I wd do all in my power to procure him the best station in the street’. He continued by saying that if our opinion concerning the conditions with which the persons in our condition cd not prudently marry, was difft from his, we were welcome to follow it. But he wd give it us. He then stated a calculation (for he is an admirable calculator & a most strict keeper of accts) according to which he made it out that if we cd raise £500 a year between us, we need not hesitate a moment on this acct. Now his daughter cd only at present bring a fortune of about £100 a year – He & I perfectly agree in reckoning nothing for contingent profits from the practice of medicine – & you will observe how much below the aristocratical estimate this is; nevertheless it may be just. For you will have collected [xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx] that the girl in question has as much moderation, as great an abhorrence of frivolous visitings & as many resources in herself as I have. & I am persuaded she wd as soon row in the galleys as marry a man of fortune whose trade was merely to spend his income in the common way. For my part being persuaded that she is equally qualified to be respectable & content in any future [xxxx] above want, I am less anxious for affluence. And really as to children, I see not why people shd feel a greater desire for money on their acct <than their own>. As to their education we shall be perfectly at home there, for the lady has been most successfully employed in the <education of her father’s> youngest son, one of the finest boys I ever saw – & she has made observations on his nature in that stage, which wd [MS torn] you. –– For my own part, I am afraid that although my income in a few years must <a good deal> exceed the moderate sum abovementioned, I shall fall about £100 a year short of it at present In that case I have only to muster use my medical & cheml knowledge to get rid in the most easy manner of this trouble of breathing – If any thing in particular has struck you upon this point, I beseech you to communicate it. It may be of use. Considering how wonderfully I have succeeded so far, to be stopped here wd be desper—n & considering this world in my calmest mood, I can find nothing much to interest me but a girl of the understanding & disposition <of her whom> I have been describing or of her of whom you already know – I shall be impatient to hear from you though I think you cannot have any thing important to write.
T. Beddoes
Address: Davies Giddy Esq / Tredrea / Marazion / Cornwall
Endorsement: Dr Beddoes / 1793 / May the 26th
MS: Cornish Archives MS DG 41/21