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1791-92 "HOPE LONG DELAY'D"
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1791–92 “hope long delay’d” —31 august 1791 # After seven years of productive authorship, Charlotte Smith began to chafe under the strain of writing to support her children. She had embarked on her career to earn money while waiting for the settlement of her father-in-law’s will, worth £36,000 when he died in 1776. Complex and ambiguously written , the will settled the bulk of Richard Smith’s fortune on Charlotte and Benjamin ’s children. Fifteen years after his death, Benjamin’s mismanagement hadreducedthevalue ofthe estate by atleast£16,000. Noreal settlementwas in sight. Thomas and Mary Smith Berney Dyer, Richard Smith’s only daughter , interpreted the will to award more to their children than Charlotte Smith would agree to. Moreover, two sugar plantations in Barbados still supplied the trust with earnings that were often subject to shipping delays. The January 1792 meeting of the families in Chatham Place, London, resolved nothing. Seven of her children depended on her for support during this time. The expense of educating Charles and Lionel at Winchester College may have contributed to her lack of money as Christmas 1791 approached. Smith was proli¤c, publishing Celestina in 1791 and Desmond and the sixth edition of Elegiac Sonnets in 1792; she also began several works that were ¤nished in 1793. Charlotte Mary, heroldest daughter, sometimes stayed with relatives in London, leaving Augusta, Lucy, Harriet, and George at home. Smith had some comfort and support during these years from her London friend Henrietta O’Neill, afellowpoet. She had a cordial, almost literary relationship with the earl of Egremont’s estate agent, James UptonTripp, who loaned her books from the Petworth library and sent her pheasants shot in its ¤elds. 33 # 1791–92 To [James Upton Tripp] Brighthelmstone Jany 17 1791 Sir, I receiv’d about a fortnight since four volumes of Bayle in French,1 which I understood from a short note of my Brothers,2 Lord Egremont had been so very good as to send for from London in consequence of my application for them last year. I am extremely sorry I was the occasion of giving his Ldship so much trouble & cannot suf¤ciently express my gratitude. The Books are so large that they are bad travellers, and I am much afraid have been a little rubbed in their Journey hither, tho they appear’d to have been very carefully pack’d. This renders me uneasy about their return to Petworth, & I fully intended bringing them with me as far as Graffham towards the end of this week, & to have left them a day or two afterwards at some safe place at Petworth in my way thro it as I intended to have gone that way to London. But Letters I have received to day compell me to relinquish this plan, and to go from hence on Teusday. I have however given strict orders abt the Books, and if my stay is very long, they shall be sent back, sewn in soft cloth to prevent their receiving any injury, which would vex me extremely. Allow me to take this opportunity of thanking you for the Pheasants which unluckily never reach’d their destination but for which I am equally oblig’dtoyou.AndImustalwaysacknowledgemyselfformanycivilities,Sir, your most obedient & much oblig’d Sert Charlotte SmithŒŒ Petworth House Archives MS. No address or postmark. notes 1. CS requested Bayle’s dictionary on 26 Mar. 1790. 2. Nicholas Turner. See Biographical Notes. To Thomas Cadell, Sr. [Brighton, 8 May 1791] Sir I shall be oblig’d to you to send me down Lorenzo,1 & if it is in Print, Dr Darwins Lover of the Plants2 as soon as possible, as the latter, indeed Both, I particularly want. Also Mr Hardinges Letter to Burke.3 [34.226.141.207] Project MUSE (2024-03-28 15:55 GMT) The Collected Letters of Charlotte Smith ŒŒŒŒŒŒŒŒ I am in haste. Sir, yr obedt humble Sert, Charlotte Smith Brighton May 8th 1791 Boston Public Library/Rare Books Department MS Ch.H.3.20. No address or postmark. [“Strand/ London” appears on the back of this sheet, which appears to have been mailed with something else. It is on a scrap of paper the size of a receipt, 3" by 7". Few such hasty notes have survived.] notes 1. William Roscoe (1753–1831) published his popular Life of Lorenzo De’ Medici, Calld the Magni¤cent in 1795. CS here refers to the earlier version of the work, which he had privately printed in 1791. 2. The Loves...