Henry Crabb Robinson, Edinburgh, to Mary Wordsworth, [Rydal Mount], 2 September 1852.

Edinburg

2d Septr 1852.

My dear friend

     Your letter, which contained the commission to pay Sir W. Hamilton’s Subsn of £3 for the Monumt I duly received And on my return to London I paid it to Mr Boxall, of which I have no doubt Sir William has received a formal acknowledgement –

     The preceding kind letter had gratified me much and strengthened my wish to pay you a short visit tho’ I feel myself, as dear & admirable Mrs Fletcher confesses is the case with her, become a different person from what she was – I feel myself quite as much alterd as I can imagine her or any one to be without the attack of any serious malady; by the mere flow of time In health – unless old age & its consequences be included in the list of diseases – I am as well as I ever was. But I am in this respect another person, that I am sensible I cannot do what others around me are doing And that I am receiving attentions continually from young people merely because I am not young – And I feel grateful for this, And the more, not the less, because I am aware of the [sentence is not concluded]

     I have been led to this unseeming topic, a branch of very unpleasant egotism, pursued at so great length, by thinking of Mrs Fletcher and her great kindness – I having to my great surprise received from her a letter of introduction to her distinguished friend Profr Pillans – I was not aware that I had so confidently spoken ^to you^ of my possible extension of my journey from Newcastle to Edinb: which was but a scheme Certainly Mrs Fs ^letter^ removed an objection – That when at Edinb: there would not be an individual to whom I shod be known directly or indirectly – Between 20 & 30 years have passed since I was here – And no one can remember me – Tho’ I now recollect that I have some notion the eldest Son of Mr & Mrs Hardin formerly your neighbours lives here – But I have no right to expect that he would willingly recollect an acquaintce which was not intimate & has been discontinued since we were at Rome in 1830! Unluckily, but this by no means weakens my sense of Mrs Fletchers active kindness – On my arrival here – Or rather the morning after my arrival, yesterday I called at the Professors – He is in the Country and not likely to return soon – not within the very few days I mean to remain here – My plans are by no means fixed And I have only negatively resolved not to go a touring as it is called in Scotland – Indeed, a loss of curiosity is one of the effects of age – So that I do not think I shall ever make a journey merely to see a new place – Every journey must have a social end or a social accompaniment – This is in all cases the prime & determining inducement –

     As long as dear Mrs Clarkson retains to the degree she does the activity of her affections, And I am able to keep myself from sinking lower into the apathy of old age, I shall be constant in my visits to her – I spent three days with her soon after the reception of your two letters I found her rather better than worse compared with my last visit or two. She is paralytic but the paralysis extends to the fingers only, not the tongue, And has not affected her mind – She is quite alive to all that befalls her friends – And the Children of her friends. I have from time to time put her up to the works of the day – And she has enjoyed as we have all done the prose writings as well as the poems of Hartley Coleridge She was deeply interested in the course of Mrs Nelson Coleridge[’s] complaint – remarkable as it was for the alleviation she experienced ^in being relieved from suffering –^ Are you aware that there is any intention to publish any posthumous writings or letters of her’s? It is idle thus to put any question, as this letter does not admit of any answer, And is intended to be a forerunner merely

      It would be idle to attempt giving you any accot of the Archaeol Meeting of which you may have heard from any of the regular readers of the London Papers – It broke up yesterday, I presume, according to the Programme originally issued which was generally adhered to –

     I have presumed that my spending a few days with you will not be inconvenient – More will not be in my power as I have formed other engagements I shall direct that letters & perhaps a paper, the Inquirer may be sent to Rydal Mount. I have not been able to let my brother & niece know where I have been or shall be after to day, but his health has been so much improved that I have been less apprehensive of inconvenience from their not knowing of my movements

     And so no more for the present –

                 As ever affectionately yours

                                            H. C. Robinson

Mrs Wordsworth

Text: WLL, Robinson, Henry Crabb/26, Wordsworth Trust and Museum, Grasmere.