How to Create the Perfect Wife (51 page)

78
   
Day’s plan was spelled out:
Seward (1804), pp. 26–27.

CHAPTER 5: SABRINA AND LUCRETIA

81
   
Like fugitives evaporating into the London fog:
Day describes the journey in his letter to his mother from Paris. He describes the girls as model travelers in his second letter to Edgeworth from Avignon. TD to Jane Phillips, November 18, from Paris, Essex RO, D/DBa C9; TD to RLE, 1769 (2nd letter from Avignon, c. December 1769) given in Edgeworth, RL and M, vol. 1, pp. 217–22. For background on Britons traveling abroad at the time see Black (Stroud, UK, 2003) and (Basingstoke, UK, 2003).

82
   
In his comic novel A
Sentimental Journey: Sterne, Laurence,
A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy
(Harmondsworth, 1967, first pub. 1768), pp. 144 and 154n.

83
   
“Mr. Day had as large a portion”:
Edgeworth, RL and M, vol. 1, p. 211.

83
   
Day would later attribute his move to France:
TD to RLE, 1769 (2nd letter from Avignon, c. December 1769), in Edgeworth, RL and M, vol. 1, pp. 217–18.

83
   
To make doubly sure that the girls:
Seward (1804), p. 27.

84
   
Having settled himself and the girls:
TD to Jane Phillips (his mother), November 18, from Paris, Essex RO, D/DBa C9.

85
   
Samuel Johnson’s friend Hester Thrale:
Thrale, Hester Lynch (afterward Piozzi),
Observations and Refections Made in the Course of a Journey Through France, Italy and Germany
(Ann Arbor, MI, 1967, first published 1789), p. 11.

85
   
Another seasoned traveler, Robert Wharton:
Black (Stroud, UK, 2003), pp. 254–55.

86
   
One British traveler who had braved:
Cited in Black (Basingstoke, UK, 2003), pp. 88–89.

86
   
Day and his wards traveled by the
diligence: Day describes the journey in his two letters to Edgeworth from Avignon. TD to RLE, 1769 (1st letter, November 1769; 2nd letter, c. December 1769) given in Edgeworth, RL and M, vol. 1, pp. 214–17 and 217–22.

87
   
One exasperated traveler exclaimed:
Elizabeth, Lady Craven (later Margravine of Brandenburg-Ansbach-Bayreuth), cited in Black (Basingstoke, UK, 2003), p. 85.

87
   
It was here, in the Church of Sainte-Claire:
Girard, p. 64.

87
   
Day, at least, survived the rigors:
TD to RLE, 1769 (1st letter, November 1769), given in Edgeworth, RL and M, vol. 1, pp. 214–17. Edgeworth comments, on p. 214, “The following are given merely as specimens of his early style, and as almost the only instances of gaiety of manner, which ever appeared in his correspondence.” Succeeding quotes from Day are taken from this letter. Background on Avignon history is from Girard.

88
   
Sterne poked fun at:
Sterne, Laurence,
The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman
(Harmondsworth, UK, 1967, first published 1759–67), p. 508.

89
   
Day . . . rented a house:
Day gives his address in his first letter to Edgeworth as “chez M. Fréderic, vis-à-vis la Madeleine, Avignon.” TD to RLE, 1769 (1st letter, November 1769), in Edgeworth, RL and M, vol. 1, pp. 214–217. The church, known both as Sainte Madeleine and Saint Étienne, stood on the corner of the rue Petite-Fusterie and rue St-Étienne but was abandoned after 1792 and later demolished. Girard, pp. 23–28 and 230–35.

89
   
The novelist Tobias Smollett scorned extravagant:
Smollett, Tobias,
Travels Through France and Italy
(London, 1766), pp. 97–98.

91
   
By the time Day replied a few weeks later:
This second letter from Avignon is dated by RLE as simply 1769. Since it obviously follows the first, dated November, it was written at the very end of that year. Succeeding quotes by Day are from this second letter. TD to RLE, 1769 (2nd letter from Avignon, c. December 1769), in Edgeworth, RL and M, vol. 1, pp. 217–18.

94
   
“Give me a child of twelve”:
Rousseau (2010), p. 497.

95
   
“He taught them by slow degrees”:
Edgeworth, RL and M, vol. 1, p. 212.

95
   
“Dear Mr. Edgeworth,” the letter began:
Edgeworth, RL and M, vol. 1, p. 220.

96
   
Day “excited much surprise”:
Edgeworth, RL and M, vol. 1, p. 211.

96
   
On one excursion beyond the city walls:
Seward (1804), p. 27.

96
   
In an almost equally reckless escapade:
Keir, p. 110.

97
   
Like Pygmalion sculpting his ivory girl:
For more discussion of the ideal woman embodied in representations of Galatea and the enduring Pygmalion myth see Hersey; Stoichita; and Sheriff.

98
   
Indeed, the cult of the living statue:
Anna Seward related the story of a neighbor who abandoned his interest in Anna’s sister Sarah when he met a woman who resembled the statue of Venus at a dinner party. He insisted on measuring her waist, throat and ankles to assure himself they exactly matched the proportions of the revered statue. Cited in Barnard, p. 52.

98
   
Edgeworth summed up his friend’s singular recipe:
Edgeworth, RL and M, vol. l, p.212.

99
   
With Sabrina, said one acquaintance:
Burney, French Exercise Book (Berg).

99
   
Or as Edgeworth put it:
Edgeworth, RL and M, vol. 1, p. 212.

100
   
One writer, who knew Sabrina in later life:
Burney, French Exercise Book (Berg).

100
   
“They teized and perplexed him”:
Seward (1804), pp. 27–28.

100
   
Lucretia had been inoculated:
Inoculation Book, girls 1766, FHA: A/FH/A/18/8/10. Although no records survive describing Sabrina’s inoculation, it was the Shrewsbury Hospital’s practice to inoculate children immediately after they returned from their nurses.

101
   
Arriving back in London, Day immediately:
Edgeworth, RL and M, vol. 1, pp. 212–13; Seward (1804), pp. 27–28.

101
   
he placed her in temporary accommodation with Bicknell’s mother:
Seward (1804), p. 28. It is not clear where Sabrina stayed in the countryside if, indeed, she did stay with Mrs. Bicknell. Bicknell’s mother, Sarah, was living in the family home in Chancery Lane at this time. Her family also hailed from London. She has been erroneously given the maiden name of Sarah Breadelbane Campbell in the family history by Algernon Sidney Bicknell,
Five Pedigrees.
Her maiden name was Ansted or Anstead, according to her will, proved 1806. She was a twin, baptized with her brother Joseph, on October 2, 1750, at St. Dunstan-in-the-West, Fleet Street, London. Will of Sarah Bicknell, proved September 22, 1806, NA, prob/11/1452. St. Dunstan-in-the-West parish register, LMA.

CHAPTER 6: ANNA AND HONORA

103
   
Growing up in the plush Bishop’s Palace:
Biographical information on Anna Seward is chiefly from Barnard; Stapleton; Lucas; Oulton; and Anna Seward’s voluminous correspondence in the published collections of her letters—the 6 volumes edited by Constable in Seward (1810) and the poems and letters edited by Scott in Seward (1811)—and her unpublished letters in the archives at SJBM. My thanks to Joanne Wilson, curator of the SJBM, Lichfield. See also Kelly, Jennifer,
Bluestocking Feminism: Writings of the Bluestocking Circle, 1738–85
(London, 1999), vol. 4; and Faderman, Lilian,
Surpassing the Love of Men
(New York, 1981).

103
   
Dr. Johnson would always say:
Hopkins, p. 210.

104
   
Encouraged by her father, at nine Anna: AS
to “Emma,” juvenile correspondence, in Seward (1810), vol. 1, p. lxviii. Barnard suggests that Seward’s correspondent “Emma” was an imaginary friend. Barnard, p. 9, and personal communication.

104
   
Anna’s youth in the happy company:
AS gives the dates for Honora’s time spent with the Seward family in a letter, AS to Mrs T [Temple], June 19, 1796, Seward (1811), vol. 4, pp. 214–20. There had been 10 girls and 2 boys in the Sneyd family, but 4 of the girls died before their mother.

104
   
Within days of her sister’s burial:
AS to Mary Powys, December 11, 1784, SJBM 2001.77.10. Sarah Seward was buried on June 16, 1764. Parish register, The Close, Lichfield 1744–97, LRO.

105
   
“This child seems angel”:
AS to “Emma,” April 1764, Seward (1810), vol. 1, p. cxvii.

105
   
the “lovely infant-girl,”; “the oval elegance”:
AS, “The Anniversary,” written June 1769, Seward (1810), vol. 1, pp. 68–73; AS to Court Dewes, March 30, 1786, in Seward (1811), vol. 1, p. 144.

106
   
Taking a year’s lease on a substantial:
The exact date that Day moved to Lichfield is unclear. Edgeworth said that he himself was not in the country when Day returned from Ireland. This must have been after April 1770, when Seward recorded that Edgeworth was visiting Lichfield. Seward said Day arrived in spring 1770. It was probably May.

106
   
Situated at the crossroads of the main:
Background on Lichfield is from Hopkins; Anon,
A Short Account of the Ancient and Modern State of the City and Close of Lichfield
(Lichfield, 1819); Jackson, John,
History of the City and Cathedral of Lichfield
(London, 1805); and Upton, Chris,
A History of Lichfield
(Chichester, 2001).

106
   
Standing on its own in a secluded spot:
Stowe House survives today almost unchanged in external appearance and largely unchanged on the ground floor. The house was built, in about 1750, for Elizabeth Aston, who lived farther up the hill in another house. Details of the history and interior of Stowe House are from Dorothea Mary Benson, Baroness Charnwood, “A Habitation’s Memories,” in
The Cornhill Magazine,
63, no. 378 n.s. (November 1927), pp. 535–47; and
Call Back Yesterday
(London, 1937). Dorothea Charnwood grew up in Stowe House. Stowe House is now a management training college, owned by the Institute of Leadership and Management. I am grateful to Alan Baker for showing me around. Information on the area is from Greenslade, M. W.,
The Victoria History of the County of Stafford,
“Lichfield” (Oxford, 1990), vol. 14, pp. 67–72.