In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

1804 “the best of the bunch” —5 march 1804 # July 1804 saw the publication of Charlotte Smith’s children’s book Conversations Introducing Poetry, the last signi¤cant work published before her death. It earned Smith £125 from Joseph Johnson. With that money and Nicholas’s remittances she began to pay off debts of the last two years while living modestly in the village of Elsted near Godalming. The trust business was still far from decided, and Egremont continued to treat Smithinways that humiliatedandembitteredher. Benjamin returnedto England several times this year and was as troublesome as ever. After meeting with him, Egremont expressed his disgust with the entire family by calling Benjamin “the best of the bunch.” Charlotte Smith almost succeeded in getting her estranged husband to settle the small fortune from her marriage articles on the three youngest children born too late to be included in Richard Smith’s will. Smith resumed working in earnest in order to supply her children’s needs andtodefendtheirrighttosupport fromthetrust. Lionel,refusedasubstantial paymentrequiredtoadvanceinrank,hadtotakeapostinthe WestIndies. She feared for his life and worried for his wife and new child. George, now a lieutenant , was repeatedly refused money for equipment and supplies needed in his new position. Lucy and her children required support, while Charlotte Mary and Harriet lived with their mother during much of the year, visiting friends when possible. Harriet’s health remained unstable. The successes of Smith’s sons had long been the one solace of her life. This yearbrought anewsolace: the friendly correspondence ofSarahRose, wife of the lawyer who had decided the arbitration award. Although sometimes ¤lled with bitter accounts of trust business or of her life with Benjamin, Smith’s letters to this newally reveal that years of adversity had not altogether dampened the spirits of this cheerful and witty observer of the literary scene. 599 # 1804 To Joseph Cooper Walker [?Ested, January 1804] . . . somewhat1 weary of me & my endless troubles. I have heard once or twice from Mr Hayley, but in a way which entirely discourages any approaches to that friendly intercourse that once subsisted between usŒŒ You have undoubtedly seen long since, his celebrated life of Cowper.2 Another Volume consisting I beleive entirely of Letters is in the press. Our friend seems to have lost none of the amiable feelings of his heart, but his style I think does not improve. It is so emcumberd with certain favourite words that it is almost cant. I wish he had said less about affectionate, worthy , amiable & marvellous, Of admirable divines, & excellent kinsmen, for it makes people laugh. All those good souls could not be such marvellous beings, & I am sure those who knew some of them, if they dared to say as they think, would describe them very differently. But this is of course said to you onlyŒŒ Godwins life of Chaucer3 is well spoken of, but the prejudice against him is so strong that it will not be candidly read. I have never seen it. Of lighter reading there has long been a plentiful lack, at lea[st of] any of merit. But the Muse of Poetry, always partial to your Island, seems to have a very animated & eloquent votary in Lord Strangford whose little book I have read withpeculiar pleasure.4 I seemtobe no longer in the literary World, and my Pegasus is as much a cripple as I am. Indeed I retain little of all I once possess ’d, but an heart still too sensibly alive to misery, for it ought long since to have been callousŒŒ It is however alive also to the remembrance of the few friends whom calamity has not yet quite frighten’d away, & the recollection of their kindness is almost all I have left to support me thro the last sad scene that is fast approaching & which ought not to be unwelcome if to be released from oppression & many cureless woes is desirable. To have a few lines from you, Dear Sir, should you see my boy & comply with my request to notice him on my account, will be most satisfactory to, Dear Sir, your most obliged humble Sert, Charlotte Smith Huntington MS (HM10827). Address: Josepth Cooper Walker Esqre/ St Vallory, near, or/ Eccles Street, in/ Dublin. No postmark. notes 1. The ¤rst and second pages of this letter are missing. Dates of works CS mentions establish this fragment as having been written no earlier than 1804. 2. Hayley’s Life and Posthumous Writings of William Cowper, Esqr., 3 vols. (1803– 1804) contained primarily letters, interspersed with biographical...

Share