Henry Crabb Robinson, Bury St. Edmunds, to Catherine Clarkson, Penrith, Cumberland, 23 January 1800. 

[HCR begins his letter on the back of a letter by Sarah Jane Maling to Catherine Clarkson]

  Sarah Jane has kindly lent me a side of her paper as the subject on which I wish to write, will interest you too little & has indeed too much of the form & appearance of Impertinence to permit my wasting a whole sheet about it. Since the long suspension of our Intimacy, tho’ many changes must have taken place in our characters, I trust I have not lost what I then felt strongly, a zeal for the reputation of my ffriends  And you I hope respect the ffeeling enough to excuse my troubling you with a few words in vindication of my ffriend Miss Hays against the wilful calumnies of a man to whom I should apply an appropriate epithet if I did not understand that he is your acquaintance  I hope for your own sake you do not honour him with the name of Friend. My acquaintance with Miss Hays began at the very time that Charles Lloyds ceased, from her accidental detection of his base & scandalous conduct. I therefore became acquainted with the affair long before I heard from Miss Maling of his injurious representations of her to you. In consequence I procured from her the most satisfactory proofs of his unparrelled [sic] rascality. I have a letter of his to her now before me dated in July 98 containing the most kind & sympathetick enquiries concerning her mind arising from an interview with her when some misfortune had thrown her into an unusual melancholy  And I have the assurance of a personal acquaintance (Dr Reid of Leicester) that Lloyd informed him of that interview & declared that her affliction arose from his (Lloyds) refusal to understand her amorous addresses – in consequence of which he could not continue acquainted with her – Miss Hays hearing of his vain & absurd supposition that she loved him; behaved as you or any other woman of spirit would have done, she would not answer his letters & resolved to mark her resentment by contempt. Alarmed at this, Lloyd in April 1799 writes a letter of whining repentance (which I have copied myself & read to Sarah Jane) in which he confesses that he had uttered the [paper torn] since repeated to you – at the same time acknowledges their falshood – with [paper torn] submission begs her pardon & adds “I am sure your heart your intentions are [paper torn] I am certain of it and none but a villain or a fool could know you & alledge the contrary” – You know best whether Lloyd has authorised you to make the choice bet[ween] these characters – And he concludes this letter of palpable & self evident contradiction by saying “I am likely in a few days to be married to Sophia Pemberton and I could not sacredly unite myself with a pure & blameless girl without wishing to wipe every stain from my own mind – farewell Mary I am in spite of all these inconsistencies deeply your ffriend And for the future if we maintain an intercourse will prove to you by conduct how severely I condemn the past” Now (to give the Devil his due) it must be confessed that he is not bound by this hypothetical promise to behave well in future. Miss H renounced his acquaintance and answered his letter in so severe & unmerciful a style that his wife declares he flew into a rage & tore it in pieces before he had finished it – In revenge it seems he has repeated the outrage and Miss Hays in self-defence has circulated his letters. I understand too that he has made insinuations agt Miss H’s veracity – this is a wise precaution Unfortunately his own notorious habits will deprive him of the power of deriving any advantage from it in the opinion of those who know him. Coleridge declares that he is “a male Jane Gibbs”  And Southey has expressed to Miss Hayes his regret that he introduced him to her but pleads as his excuse that he did not know him then – This is no solitary instance of the kind. An Acquaintance of mine (I know the fact, you will excuse my mentioning names[)] [f. 18v] was involved in an unfortunate amour which terminated in the young Ladys committing Suicide in his presence. Surely a more convincing proof of attachment could scarcely be given – Lloyd had the brutality to tell this unhappy young man that the girl was in fact in love with him also & made advances – Is not this enough? And will you not now pardon the warmth with which I have expressed myself of this “sentimental hypocrite”? Tho’ I can have no personal enmity to him I feel no slight indignation agt such vile & dastardly conduct. I say dastardly as I know several instances in which he has submitted to personal insults which no man of spirit would endure. And perhaps you will not think this impertinent in support of me for whom I am beginning to feel what I have felt for you ever since I had a heart – a ffriendship grounded on the knowledge of moral & intellectual qualities of high excellence. Miss H.[’s] life has been unfortunate & her affections have suffered a severe disappointment, naturally very affectionate, of all women, she is the most ready to form the inferior & subordinate attachments of esteem & ffriendship. From the singular incidents of her life it is morally impossible that she shod ever again love. Let me add too that in the uniform train of her sentiments, she is pure & chaste even to excess – from which possibly the unguarded & unrestrained warmth of her language has arisen   I am confident that C. Lloyd cannot know her better than I do  And as I am very far from being a Lover, my testimony alone wod I hope weigh agt him if it were not put out of the question by his own Letters and general character. –

      I must not encroach on Miss Maling’s Paper by entering on a subject relating to ourselves for should I wish it as I would not blend a confidential friendly communication with a Letter of general concern  And which you may communicate to any one – I shall be happy to receive from you a Letter of a different kind – but I understand that your domestick cares engross all your attention – I cannot yet fully sympathise with them. But I am now qualified to imagine your Situation amid the wild & romantic beauties of the Lakes  Last Autumn I made a pedestrian Tour thro’ Wales in course of which I walked more than 1100 miles – You display philosophic indifference to the World by retiring from it  And I a republican strength of body by my walk. Both are important acquisitions.

        They ought not to be compared in their general influence on happiness. You are enabled to participate in the happiness of domestick life; whilst I am capable only of Amusement.

        Farewell, excuse the haste & incorrectness with which I have written, be not displeased with the intrusive freedom with which I have written founded on a regard on my part not yet obsolete  And believe me to be                            

        Your sincere ffriend                                     

                    H. C. Robinson

Bury 23.d Jan.y 1800[1]

Maling writes at the end of her letter:

    What is the news of Bury? Henry Robinson is come to stay a month or two – I am glad of it – I wish he wd behave as well here as he does in London – But every time you say any thing which he does not approve of, or whenever he thinks you are stupid, he gives you a confounded fillup with his great fingers -- & it does make such a noise. My nerves cannot support it. Do you know I begin to feel & rather in an oppressive manner what Mrs Rob: complained of – that he is too clever for me. He & his brother spent ye evening with us yesterday  ... with our stupidity I do assure you that I recognize this feeling which I have mentioned with much regret. I will do all I can, not to care for him & laugh with him at any ignorance, dullness &c for I shd be sorry to lose the pleasure I have always found in his company  ... I do believe it is so, though I was not aware of it till this moment – I told him of yr intention of writing to him, he wished most sincerely that you shd.

               Mrs R is not yet returned from Bagehot. I hope we shall be more intimate. My mother has a cold – Maria is always very indifferent – the rest very well – they all desire their respects to you --. Now little Tom got the idea of standing with his back to the fire & I don’t know it is not one of his tricks.

Text: Clarkson Papers, Add. MS. 41267 B, fol. 18, British Library.