I was very pleased to find and read Judith Patrick's 'SEWARD Family in Lichfield - Thomas (1708-1790) and Anna (1742-1809)'
I have, from a cousin, a letter from 1745, written from Buxton Spa, describing how customers spent their time there then. It also has this wonderful description of Anna's mother.
This is how Edmund Pyle, D.D. described Elizabeth (Hunter) Seward in his unpublished 1745 letter to Norwich-born 'Molly' Clarke (Mary Jacob) a daughter of John Clarke, Dean of Sarum/Salisbury:
"Where there was a Lady – O! may I name her? – One Mrs Seward; of about the age of 34; possessed of every Charm that can enter into the Composition of a Human Person. A Face, such as a Painter, of the chastest & most elegant Imagination, would give to an Angel. A Stature and shape, such as Poets give to Goddesses of the first Dignity. A Voice, melodious beyond conception. An Understanding, sufficient to make amends for the want of Common Sense in half The Sex. And a Manner of Address, in which there is such an Equality between the sweetness of its Familiarity, towards you, & the Dignity, with which it demands the highest Regards to herself, from you – that 'tis impossible to tell which of them to admire most. This (almost) Divine Creature was Daughter to a Staffordshire Schoolmaster, and is Wife to a very clever Clergyman, who is well prefer'd in this neighbourhood.
Would to God She had been unappropriated – or that I had never seen her! I don't doubt but you'll be most Insolently merry, upon this last Wish of my poor Heart. Well! 'Tis a just Judgement upon him – He – that might so often have been happy – and would not – now to be tormented – for the worst of, & with the longing after – what cannot be had. He's serv'd right – I'm glad o'nt.
Madam I submit my self to the Severity of your Wit, which yet I hope will be abated when we meet by the workings of Mercy (so natural to you) towards an old Friend, who, if he is really a Fool, in this Case, is so unavoidably, & confesses himself to be so. I am your most Humble & Obedient Servant – E: Pyle"
In one of the published letters to Dr Kerrich he says:-
LETTER XXIII (Addressed to To the Rev. Dr. Kerrich) "Novr 2d, 1745."Dear Sir, I've been afraid to see you or write because the Small Pox is much here. As to wine, I always have mine in a vessel & bottle it at home. I have my |- now in the house, & shall bottle it in a few days. I doubt not but your part is ready to bottle, & I will give proper orders about it, & the bottles. What times! Have you associated & subscribed, & been abused for so doing, like most of your Cloth? You know, I trust, that I was with the Dean of Norwich five weeks at Buxton, a warm bath in the Peak of Derbyshire. I am the better for the journey and the waters, as is the Dean. There I saw one Mr. Seward who attended his Brother (Frank) in his last illness & knows you, & presents you his service. He is a very agreeable man, well prefer'd in that country, and has a wife, who seems to have all the charms of body & mind that a human person can have, and is worth any man's going as far as the Peak to see & converse with."
I am, dear Badsey Society, your most Humble & Obedient Servant,
Elizabeth Hunter/Seward (1712-1780)
I was very pleased to find and read Judith Patrick's 'SEWARD Family in Lichfield - Thomas (1708-1790) and Anna (1742-1809)'
I have, from a cousin, a letter from 1745, written from Buxton Spa, describing how customers spent their time there then. It also has this wonderful description of Anna's mother.
This is how Edmund Pyle, D.D. described Elizabeth (Hunter) Seward in his unpublished 1745 letter to Norwich-born 'Molly' Clarke (Mary Jacob) a daughter of John Clarke, Dean of Sarum/Salisbury:
"Where there was a Lady – O! may I name her? – One Mrs Seward; of about the age of 34; possessed of every Charm that can enter into the Composition of a Human Person. A Face, such as a Painter, of the chastest & most elegant Imagination, would give to an Angel. A Stature and shape, such as Poets give to Goddesses of the first Dignity. A Voice, melodious beyond conception. An Understanding, sufficient to make amends for the want of Common Sense in half The Sex. And a Manner of Address, in which there is such an Equality between the sweetness of its Familiarity, towards you, & the Dignity, with which it demands the highest Regards to herself, from you – that 'tis impossible to tell which of them to admire most. This (almost) Divine Creature was Daughter to a Staffordshire Schoolmaster, and is Wife to a very clever Clergyman, who is well prefer'd in this neighbourhood.
Would to God She had been unappropriated – or that I had never seen her! I don't doubt but you'll be most Insolently merry, upon this last Wish of my poor Heart. Well! 'Tis a just Judgement upon him – He – that might so often have been happy – and would not – now to be tormented – for the worst of, & with the longing after – what cannot be had. He's serv'd right – I'm glad o'nt.
Madam I submit my self to the Severity of your Wit, which yet I hope will be abated when we meet by the workings of Mercy (so natural to you) towards an old Friend, who, if he is really a Fool, in this Case, is so unavoidably, & confesses himself to be so. I am your most Humble & Obedient Servant – E: Pyle"
In one of the published letters to Dr Kerrich he says:-
LETTER XXIII (Addressed to To the Rev. Dr. Kerrich) "Novr 2d, 1745."Dear Sir, I've been afraid to see you or write because the Small Pox is much here. As to wine, I always have mine in a vessel & bottle it at home. I have my |- now in the house, & shall bottle it in a few days. I doubt not but your part is ready to bottle, & I will give proper orders about it, & the bottles. What times! Have you associated & subscribed, & been abused for so doing, like most of your Cloth? You know, I trust, that I was with the Dean of Norwich five weeks at Buxton, a warm bath in the Peak of Derbyshire. I am the better for the journey and the waters, as is the Dean. There I saw one Mr. Seward who attended his Brother (Frank) in his last illness & knows you, & presents you his service. He is a very agreeable man, well prefer'd in that country, and has a wife, who seems to have all the charms of body & mind that a human person can have, and is worth any man's going as far as the Peak to see & converse with."
I am, dear Badsey Society, your most Humble & Obedient Servant,
Peter Maxfield.