1801

Thomas Beddoes to Thomas Wilkinson, 12 March 1801

March 12 1801

Dear Sir

I kept an acc^t of the £25 & the £300 rec^d from you – I believe you never told me before of their approbation & I am much obliged by your instructions –

I enclose what I have purchased for John – Some other things, as Stewarts Athens, Antichta d’Ercolano are ordered – I have not yet the acc^t of them – They retain their value & improve in value – If you, next settling, disapprove of these articles it will be no great evil for me to keep them – I think them most highly useful because they purify the taste by giving ideas of the antique & shew by a glance what is <often> not well comprehended by a long definition –

If you & L^y Anne & Mr R. L. have no objection the Voyages Picturesque, my opinion is that they would give a great scope of ideas to the boys – but certainly I shall always defer most cheerfully to your authority where it does not sanction my ideas –

My desire is that you should communicate the substance of what I said to L^y Anne & Mr R, as far as you judged it useful & advantageous – but where you thought I uttered nonsense to suppress it –

I beg to trouble you with one word more partly on the subject of my last letter –

I know not whether you will give me credit for firm attachment to the boys to their father’s memory & to their guardians. You will certainly give me credit for speaking with some knowledge of their constitution of mind & body.

Lady Anne seems more charmed than ever with their sense their manners & their improvement as far as she can judge – She came at a fortunate time for convincing herself that what I am going to say is not chimerical – She must have perceived in William clear signs of a disposition to that disease which has done so much mischief in the family. In John I have perceived vestiges though fainter of the same complaint – To you I need not observe that health is the prime consideration and I repeat it to you that in the year succeeding Sep^r next, I have no doubt of being able to strengthen both their constitutions more than in the preceding – I have had both both under a little course of medicine & regimen – You know the younger children live in London, or are subjected to confinement, or exposed to the wear & tear of a school, if their constitutions are weak, the more are they liable to have those constitutions injured – You know better than I do what harm will arise from being kept from Eton – Here they will improve, have air & exercise, & learn more of society & human characters then (I believe) at any school – And if you think a year too long to be kept from Eton, there w^d be <an> advantage in passing even the winter under my eye.

L^y A having been very unreserved, I have broke through my repugnance & laid these considerations before her, wishing that she w^d let the next boy come as visitor (for I will have no compensation for him but the idea of serving the family) for 6 or 12 months – He w^d become endeared to his brothers & learn by their example, which I assure you has reclaimed one who was almost idiotic

Thomas Beddoes

Endorsement: March 12^th / 1801
MS: Lambton Park MS