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

r is copied fr

June 2

y for which he returns His thanks. The Duke begs leave again to assure Miss J. that whatever may be the form in which he

leasure go to see her whenever it

in question because he was unwilling to obtrude His opinion upon a matter which Miss J. c

ot rebuke a Gentleman for words spoken not to Her; not even in Her Pr

xercise of Prudence and discretion virtues; n

ry cont

s last, as follows 'The Duke will with the greatest pleasure go to see her whenever it may suit Miss J. to receive him'-for in this of the 29th he writes-'I cannot but concur in your deci

Duke had again commenced addr

n applied. I am not otherwise hurt but it is quite obvious that I shall not be able to wait upon you to-morrow. I hope to be able to do so however at the same hour on Monday.' That such was not the will of the Lord of lords I now perfe

ssibly not in the sense intended by Miss J. She seems to have been devoid of any sense of

owed to quit my House this day. Indeed I am convinced that I could not do so without increasing the risk of being confined to my house for weeks or months. I lamen

tifiably condemned. It is still I believe in my possession among my papers, the Duke h

s a packet from me to which he adds 'I continue t

of July, the Duke writes; 'I am better and I am in hopes tha

of Lords and I hope soon to be able to go about without inconvenience' to which the Duke again refers in his next thus; 'I continue to recover from t

ng overweight-apparently, but judging by the letter of

cessity of taking care not to do so because I was apprehensive that i

am much better and can walk a little. But my Knee is bandaged up; and

uch flattered by the anxiety which you express respecting the injury which I rec

serve such were not adverted to by the Duke-a subject I did not omit expatiating upon occasionally, h

your letter and flattered by your desire to see me. I am so far better a

es concerning his seal as the Duke writes-'I use black w

uoted, Miss J. left Hastings for Tunbridge Wells.

to him dated Aug. 11th, 1836. In the Duke's next he again adverts to his knee th

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

writing cases the letter which I had omitted to send on the day before yester

nee continues to improve but it has not yet all its strength and elasticity,

d him to send me the letter he had placed in one of his writing cases, fo

ceived in due course a letter which you were so kind as to

ess of the poor man's recovery, u

is accident as follows-'I am getting better every day-but slowly, as is the case with r

d been found by Miss J. The

tle, Sept.

hearing from you; and I am still more surpriz

respecting Your Hand writing; and you have consequently misre

h you convey your thoughts to others, is a matter of but little Importance to you; and that at all ev

entured to tell you that I experienced gre

e trouble of writing to me; if it should

ver Yours mo

lin

eems to have been quite thrown away u

riting, through finding my pen could not keep pace with my feelings, more es

which may have been accidental as his next dated Oct. 1st, 1836, is again in the first and on the 11th he

s-'I am, I assure you, very sensible of the

time to be able to wait upon you this evening but I will wait upon

o. 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 God'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 conce

uch flattered by your desire to have my opinion whether you should send the letter

of Nov. 10th. The next letter from the Duke is date

st, 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 acknowledgeme

s faithful Ch

A.

as all right, yielding up my heart to God as I

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 lor

I received from the

; 'I am very much obliged to you for your letters, and I assure you that I always receive with thankfulness whatever you think p

s; 'I have now got such a cold that I cannot quit the house. I have

for your enquiries. I came down to the Country to get rid of the cold and I am much b

he again notices my letter, as follows; 'I return you the

etter in which she referred to his "brushing up his chair to me with so much famili

April

nts to Miss J. She is quite mistaken. He has

e has been guilty of presump

expressed displeasure at his having omitted

Offence by writing again. If he had ventured to approach Miss J., or had written to her; he might have been a

that Miss J. should consider that

she will be opinion [sic] that

her hair. He had bestowed one of his upon her, and it is only natural to surmise that she had given

April

is very sensible of the kindness of her expressions on t

hat Miss J. still thinks that she has

se [sic]. The Duke assures her, Miss J., that he is not sensible that he has

s about the health of the Duke's brother. The Newspapers were misinformed. The Duke's brother has not been seriously indispo

, May

ks for Her Note. The Duke will make enquiries respecting that of the 22nd

f this Description. But the few that do occur should render letter writers cautious not to wri

g, "He does not know what to do to please her." Miss J. adds, "Whic

test tiff. Miss J., as usual, re-opened the cor

August 1

s Compts to Miss J. He returns His

wn; and he intends to go to

published an Intention of giving what i

J. not to believe one Word that she re

August 1

s Compts to Miss J. He returns His

uble of writing a second time upon the subject of misrepresenta

o send them; relying on His own gracious Word which runs thus, "My Word shall not return unto ME void but it shall accomplish that which I please and shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it."-Miss J. begs to be excused giving her address, being desirous to avoid all observation etc. but if on her return to Town it should be the will of God that she should make His Grace acquainted with

He has received and returns His thanks for her N

es-'He is happy to learn that her health is so far

as follows 'He returns thanks to Miss J. for Her Note of the 3rd inst. received this morning, with

o give it a place herein, more especially as I perceive one portion is almost defaced, reg

Soul, which blessed state Miss J. has no good reason for believing His Grace the Duke of Wellington has yet experienced. However, as there is nothing too hard for The Lord of Lords, i

d and LOSE his own SOUL? or what shall a man give in exchange for his SOUL?" An important enquiry sent by her for a long time almost without interruption in every letter to His Grace,-but Alas! with how little effect!! Rest assured, the moment will arrive when a fervent desire will be experienced that such advice, entreaties, observations, Scriptu

en the things of Time are giving place to those of Eternity, Miss J. conti

m the moment she first beheld him to the present-on which account God seems to think proper to restrain her pen, and address-thus preventing her from being subject to receiving Notes as formal as they are unsatisfactory, the loss of which she cannot,-does not regret, being happier, infinitely happier

conduct would prove, as in the hour of necessity her desire would be to afford him comfort and consolation: and since he is so public a character as to insure such circumstances being generally known Miss J. t

he above just as for

es-'He returns his thanks for her letter of Saturday just r

returns many thanks for her letter of the 10th inst.,' and

unable to give any other answer to Miss J.'s letters exce

taining his thanks, followed by one