The Letters of the Duke of Wellington to Miss J. 1834-1851 Part 8

"'You did not send me a letter overweight. But I warned you of the necessity of taking care not to do so because I was apprehensive that if I should be absent my servants would decline to receive the letter.'

"The next letter from the Duke is dated July 30th wherein he writes; 'I am much better and can walk a little. But my Knee is bandaged up; and some time will elapse before I shall have the use of it as heretofore.'

"The next letter from the Duke is dated Aug. 3rd 1836 in which he writes 'I am much flattered by the anxiety which you express respecting the injury which I received in my knee. I am getting the better of it and I hope soon to be quite well.'

"Alas! it grieves me as I thus proceed, running my eye over so many references to G.o.d's mercies to observe such were not adverted to by the Duke--a subject I did not omit expatiating upon occasionally, however reluctant to irritate whilst laboring under indisposition, as my Diary will doubtlessly imply.

"On the 5th of August the Duke writes; 'I am very much obliged to you for your letter and flattered by your desire to see me. I am so far better as to be able to walk and I can go to see you when you will come to Town.'

"By that of the 8th of Aug. I presume I had made enquiries concerning his seal as the Duke writes--'I use black wax to seal my letters as a Relation of mine died lately.'"

Immediately after the receipt of the last letter quoted, Miss J. left Hastings for Tunbridge Wells. The Duke's letters followed her here. She writes:--

"The Duke's next letter is directed to Tunbridge Wells, thanking me for my letter to him dated Aug. 11th, 1836. In the Duke's next he again adverts to his knee thus--'My knee continues to improve and I hope to walk as well as ever in a few days.'

"In the Duke's of Aug. 16th he writes--'I entertain some doubt whether a letter which I wrote to you yesterday was sent to the Post. If not, I laid it by in one of my writing cases and in the uncertainty I think it best to write again. I hope that the waters will prove beneficial to your Health and that you will remain at Tunbridge as long as it may be necessary that you should drink thereof.'

"In the Duke's letter of the 20th of Aug. he writes--'I have found in one of my writing cases the letter which I had omitted to send on the day before yesterday. I rejoice to learn that your health improves so much at Tunbridge Wells.'

"The Duke's next letter is directed to me at Brighton wherein he writes 'My Knee continues to improve but it has not yet all its strength and elasticity, but I hope that it will soon. I am much obliged to you for enquiring about it.'

"Judging by the Duke's next letter, dated Aug. 22nd, I must have requested him to send me the letter he had placed in one of his writing cases, for he replies--'You will have seen that I had destroyed the letter not sent.'

"In the Duke's next, dated Aug. 31st, the Duke writes--'I received in due course a letter which you were so kind as to write to me on nineteen sides of paper under three covers.'"

One ceases to wonder at the slowness of the poor man's recovery, under such circ.u.mstances as these.

"Upon the 6th of September a letter arrived from the Duke in which he again refers to his accident as follows--'I am getting better every day--but slowly, as is the case with recovery from such accidents. I hope however to recover entirely and to be quite well.'"

Another cause of offence had been found by Miss J. The Duke's letter explains it:--

WALMER CASTLE, Sept. 17, 1836.

MY DEAR MISS J.,--I was much surprized at not hearing from you; and I am still more surprized now that I learn the Cause of your Silence.

Begging Your Pardon you don't repeat accurately what I wrote respecting Your Hand writing; and you have consequently misrepresented my Meaning; which was however not worth attending to.

I totally forgot that your Mind is occupied with affairs of more Importance; the Hand writing in which you convey your thoughts to others, is a matter of but little Importance to you; and that at all events you are seldom in a disposition to allow any body to complain; much less to find fault with you.

Accordingly I beg your Pardon for having ventured to tell you that I experienced great Difficulty in reading your Hand writing.

I hope that you will not give yourself the trouble of writing to me; if it should be at all irksome or inconvenient to you.

Believe me Ever Yours most faithfully

WELLINGTON.

The unmistakable irony of the above seems to have been quite thrown away upon Miss J., for she placidly remarks:--

"I am well aware that the poor Duke was justified in finding fault with my writing, through finding my pen could not keep pace with my feelings, more especially as I generally sent off whatever I wrote just as it was _thus_ written.

"Again I see by the Duke's letter of Sept. 26th that he has returned to the third person in addressing me, which may have been accidental as his next dated Oct. 1st, 1836, is again in the first and on the 11th he writes--'I have received your Note and two Covers containing Tracts, for all of which I return my thanks.'

"In the Duke's letter of Oct. 14th he writes--'I am, I a.s.sure you, very sensible of the kindness of your motive in writing to me.'

"The Duke's next letter is as follows 'I did not arrive in London in time to be able to wait upon you this evening but I will wait upon you to-morrow afternoon as soon after five as it may be in my power.'

"On October 19^th the Duke called, after an absence of about two years. So seldom did The Lord of Lords allow personal interviews to take place which doubtlessly was wisely ordered for His Glory Who knows the end from the beginning and is consequently too jealous of His Holy Name to suffer it to be tarnished. Of this holy jealousy I was rendered especially sensible on the visit above alluded to. I accosted the Duke accordingly on his entering the room. He exclaimed 'You shall do this and you shall do that!' without any reference to G.o.d's holy Will, expatiating accordingly until dear Mrs. L. who was only separated from us by folding doors said afterwards she pitied the Duke and was glad when I had said whatever I considered my duty. Nor was it until then that I even asked him concerning his knee, although that was the first visit since the Accident. When I did so, he appeared delighted, brushing up his chair nearer to me, which of course met with the withdrawal on my part _due_ to Christianity. I bless G.o.d for the grace and strength afforded me on that occasion, causing the Duke to sink into the utmost insignificance in comparison with His favor which is better than life.

"The next letter from the Duke is dated Nov. 3rd, 1836, wherein he writes, 'I am much flattered by your desire to have my opinion whether you should send the letter you had written to a gentleman, but had refrained from putting it into the Post.'

"The Duke alludes again to this in his next letter of Nov. 10th.

The next letter from the Duke is dated Nov. 11th, 1836, entreating me to date my letters.

"In the Duke's next letter dated Nov. 12th he writes--'It is true that I burn every letter the preservation of which is not of importance, but I do not forget their contents as you will have perceived, at least, those that are material.' With this letter I see one of mine thus written and which I presume consequently was forwarded.--'I had imagined My Lord Duke this day would have brought with it an acknowledgement of my two last letters whereas I have only received a brief reply to that addressed to you on Sunday. However as it is my duty to acknowledge the receipt of that this day received--I do so subscribing myself

"'Your Grace's faithful Christian Friend

"'A. J.'

"The above looks very formal but I presume it was all right, yielding up my heart to G.o.d as I did and do to govern as seemed good in His sight.

"The next letter from the Duke is dated Nov. 14th, 1836, wherein he writes; 'I shall be in London in the end of this week, that is on Friday, and I beg you to write to me if you should wish to see me.'

How little did the poor Duke think when he wrote thus that the great Lord of lords had decreed he should not behold me again for nearly eight years, namely until the summer of 1844--O how mysterious are His unerring ways!!

"During the year 1836 I received from the Duke fifty-six Letters.

"1837.--I do not see any letter from the Duke until Feb. 26th in this year when he writes therein as follows from Hartford Bridge; 'I am very much obliged to you for your letters, and I a.s.sure you that I always receive with thankfulness whatever you think proper to write to me. I do not like to trouble you when you do not write to me lest my intrusion should be considered offensive.'

"The next letter from His Grace is dated March 2nd, wherein he writes; 'I have now got such a cold that I cannot quit the house. I have no fever however and I shall be quite well, I hope, in a day or two.'

"The Duke's next letter is dated March 5th wherein he writes--'I am much obliged to you for your enquiries. I came down to the Country to get rid of the cold and I am much better, indeed, nearly well. I will return the letter enclosed in yours the next time.'

"The Duke's next letter is dated March 12th 1837 in which he again notices my letter, as follows; 'I return you the enclosed which I ought to have sent you when I wrote last.'"

Still another dispute is now chronicled. Miss J. states that she wrote the Duke a letter in which she referred to his "brushing up his chair to me with so much familiarity during his last visit." The Duke's answer shows his irritation very plainly:--

LONDON, April 18, 1837.

The Duke of Wellington presents His Compliments to Miss J. She is quite mistaken. He has no Lock of Hair of Her's. He never had one.

The Duke is not aware that he has been guilty of _presumption_, of _daring presumption_.

Miss J. wrote to him a letter in which she expressed displeasure at his having omitted to call upon Her as she expected he would.