1592997951000 1569843190000 Standard Record object-110005689 1747159752174 1569843439000 1747159409017 adlib fitz-online adlib-object-110005689 https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/110005689 4e6699b5-762b-3b1d-908f-c9396c012aec 4 person reference agent-198502 adlib-agent-198502 b67bd5fa-4f2a-302b-afaa-81f4c4f45ec8 Hayley, Eliza person reference agent-200363 adlib-agent-200363 201d5049-bf73-3ae4-9fc7-60442a0cca06 Newburgh, Lady (Countess) person reference agent-60281 adlib-agent-60281 eb950ea2-c7cf-31ca-86c5-6e18f0e39f92 Hayley, Thomas Alphonso person reference agent-198490 adlib-agent-198490 85b3bcdb-3ccc-3585-b16c-b36e51fe6db1 Cockerell, Mary person reference agent-200365 adlib-agent-200365 4e85cd8a-bbb3-3979-80ee-f158fd500729 Nicholas, Mrs Mary (nee Mundy) content description 1 sheet folded Hayley writes in response to Eliza's letter of 28/04/1792 (Hayley/XXI/58) in which she describes her surprise at Maria Beridge (John Beridge's widow) marrying Mr Twigge, and outlines her plans for a trip to Sussex to visit friends, seabathe at Felpham and visit her estranged husband and former home at Eartham. He writes: "as to your [Eliza's] projected Travels to the south, I am, in Truth, surprised & allow me to say a little hurt, that you could in any degree settle such a project, which, you must know, would agitate my Feelings, in no common manner, without first consulting me on a point, so important to each of us. I shall speak on this subject with that perfect Sincerity, Tenderness & Resolution, which have ever prevailed in my language & conduct towards you, & I may say, towards every Creature, with whom I have had any kind of Intercourse – when you have heard what I have to communicate on this Topic, I am persuaded, your own Goodness & Generosity of Heart will induce you to postpone your promised visit to the old Countess to another year; & to chase for your sea-bathing this Autumn some coast much nearer to you than Felpham." He continues: " It would be utterly impossible for me to be in Sussex, when you visit it, without having my spirits so agitated with inexpressible, & I must own painfully affectionate Inquietude about you, that I should be perfectly disabled from all profitable study – nor could I possibly, fix on any plan of conduct towards you, that would entirely tranquillize my mind." If she proceeds with this course of action, he writes, he would be unable to "execute a page" of the Life of Milton he has been commissioned to write to accompany "a splendid Edition of the divine Bard, which is to appear as a Companion to the Boydelian Shakespeare" and would "(however inconvenient it may be to me) fly to France, or seek some remote Retirement before your arrival. assuredly I will not be at Eartham (tho having a number of Books already sent to me here for the work I have mentioned, it would be most singularly inconvenient to me to desert my own study this Summer) yet I repeat, I will not be at Eartham when you are in Sussex". After more heavy persuasion, Hayley writes "I am going in a few days to visit a new literary Friend on the other side of London, & to pass a week or two with Him in conferences on the work I have undertaken. Pray let me find a letter from you, as I pass thro London, directed to me at Romneys, & be so kind as to let it arrive there on Saturday next, as I do not mean to be above two or three days in Town. – Mary must attend me, as the only valet I have; & I mean to station Tom with a Friend, that I can make Free with, while I myself visit a stranger, who, tho I have not yet seen Him has shown a disposition to treat me with infinite kindness. The Time of my return to Sussex must depend on the answer I receive from you, & think me not severe, my dear Eliza, when I say, that nothing but a kind & friendly assurance from you, that you will not surprise & distress me by any hasty excursion to this County, can enable me to come home to my favourite solitude with that tranquillity of spirit, which is so necessary for all literary labour, & especially to a person, whose body & mind have been shattered like mine –" He concludes by suggesting that if Eliza thinks he is being unfair, she should show this letter to their friend Mrs Nicholas. Hayley/XXI/8 1 accession number Hayley/XXI/8 110005689 priref 110005689 uri https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/110005689 https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/110005689 reference agent-149638 adlib-agent-149638 7376d833-d0a7-3be0-916e-9c892b7a24d8 The Fitzwilliam Museum 1792 1792 1792-05-06 reference agent-198487 adlib-agent-198487 4dbae6db-a725-3bfd-b34e-5d215b1a85e6 Hayley, William 1 letter Hayley/XXI/8 object OBJECT