Letter from Emma Hubbard to her cousin Arthur Phelps.
Transcribed from a scan of the original in March 2015 by Penelope
Forrest, born Phelps, great granddaughter of Arthur.
Market Bosworth. Feb 29 [1860]
My dearest Arthur
I am out of foreign paper, & it won't
be of much use to send to Hollier, who is our only stationer at present for any
– so I must try & write rather smaller than is my wont.
I was so glad to hear from Fanny the
other day of your new piece of good luck – or rather something better than luck
– for you would not have had the appointment if you had not worked well for it.
I am always so glad to hear of your well doing. The worst of it is that it
diminishes the chance of seeing you in these parts for one does not know how
many years.
I am so sorry the photographs got
smashed. I flattered myself that the bit of tin would make them proof against
smashing. I won't try post again. I was so glad to get your long letter. You are
becoming a reformed character in your correspondence & write such an elegant
hand nowadays.
As to Haines affairs, I don't agree
with you. Mrs H is as thoroughly untrue a woman
from heart & backbone to the tips of her fingers as ever I had the good fortune
to meet. And it strikes me that you take her representation of affairs. As to
his books being taken by thee Government, & his consequent inability to justify
himself, he not only would not let his second in command have the regular
periodical overhauling of his accounts (which he should have had I think,
legally, every month – & which he never allowed him to
do) but after the smash, he not only would not send his statement of accounts in
to Government as requested, but refused to let some inspector sent on purpose
look into them – & then, & not till then, Government took possession of the
books. At least such is Mamma's clear recollection of the case as we heard it at
the time, both from themselves & others – & mine. Also, good as it may be for
the Capt. to have Staffy with him, it is not fair & right to the poor boy to let
him sacrifice his own prospects & grow up without a profession & without the
habit of doing anything – as they seem to be doing. I dare say it has done
Staffy a good deal of good too, having to be unselfish & thoughtful for others
&c. I heard from Nellie Mules the other day, who means to come & see me if she
can. If you ever see Staffy in theses days remember me very kindly to him.
Tom Cope will make a better lawyer
than you would expect. He has grown up much more talkative & quicker witted than
I should have expected. He is rather witty too, not quite
so much as he & his admiring family think – but really very quick at an answer –
& not bad at a pun. Sam is much more silent than he used to be. He is a very
good simple-hearted fellow – very great at Mathematics. His Rugby tutor says he
would be wasted on so small a coll as Emmanuel, & that he ought to go to Trinity
where he would stand a good chance of a Fellowship. Tom is at Trinity, & one
hopes, going on well there. But they did learn turning at Rugby, & a very good
thing it is. There is a man there who teaches the art at 8d
an hour, & Tom has turned a very respectable set of backgammon men I hear. I
have not been over there for some time for I have not been very flourishing
lately, & the little carriage has not been available, for of our two horses, one
won't go in harness, & the other has been turned out lame for months past. The
consequence is John has had to do rather a large amount of walking in addition
to his riding.
Such a bitterly cold winter we have
had. I am glad spring is coming – though it is not a very enjoyable season to
me. I have a great nosegay of snowdrops by me now – & out of the window I can
see the horsechesnut buds look bright & varnished – all which is promising.
Since I began this I have had a visit
from the photographer ("portagrapher" one of the maids calls him
– with a dim sense I
believe that his title alludes to portraits) who did Arthur last
year, so I must send you one or two. I have a very amusing one of George, who is
a great blank-looking fellow with not much hair. He sat, as is his wont, with
admirable stillness & dignity, so he came out very well. Arthur does not take
well; he looks so anxious about it, & when he frowns he makes such very odd
wrinkles in his forehead. The best taken of him is one in the possession of
Thomas our servant. (Thomas Collington, who used once to be the boy under Henry
& who has lived here since before we were married.) Thomas & Arthur are fast
friends, & T was very anxious to have one taken of himself & A together, as if
they were going to the field – our old "near fields" you know are ours. So A has
his spade in one hand & holds T by the other, & looks uncommonly well. Our queer
little hairy dog Minikin too comes in, & stood very well. Arthur so often asks
all about you. I hardly know anyone in whom he takes so lively an interest. And
if he has a little drop of wine given him, as his Papa will
now & then, after the "Good health, Papa", & "Good health, Mamma", which come as
a matter of course, he very often volunteers, "And my love to Arthur Phelps".
You are I think the only one so favoured except "Baby George" now & then.
Bassy's boy is a very quick little
fellow – I am afraid more of a Goldney than an Evans – which one may without
much vanity assume to be the better article of the two – but a smiling bright
nice child. I have not seen him for a long time now – & I hear of his beginning
to talk. My George, who won't be a year old till the 19th
of March, walks about manfully almost all day long.
We are expecting Anne here on Friday.
She has not been at all well lately – & No 16 K. S.
is being painted outside & in – so Mamma is anxious to get her away. I agree
with you, they ought to write an Opera between them – not that I think they
could do it. I doubt whether it is in B's style, & I think the complications of
the instrumentation would be too many for Anne. Perhaps you will suggest a
subject though. I remember being struck while I was reading "Werther" with Madlle
with the notion of what an admirable great piece of music – not opera – it would
make, with its varying phases of feeling – so harmoniously growing out of, yet
contrasting with, each other.
That last sentence reminds me of Uncle
Tom. Were not you astonished to hear of his marriage? As far as one hears it
seems a most successful experiment. Poor Uncle John is very ill. I think only
his indomitable spirit keeps him alive. He is anxious now to leave London & go
to Dartmouth or Bournemouth, but I don't think there is a chance of his doing
so. Poor Jack is working himself to death just now, trying to soften the stony
hearts of Ministers & not let them put the English paper trade on the unfair
terms that they propose with the French. They mean to admit foreign made paper
duty free to England, & yet to allow foreign states to continue to prohibit the
export of rags, without a better supply of which, England, paying double for
labour, cannot successfully compete with the Continent. This French treaty it
seems, will pass. We here dislike & distrust it thoroughly.
I don't wonder at your rejoicing at
Joe's escape from that little flirty minx (I don't often call names) Annette. I
could not help telling him how heartily glad of it I was, when he was here. Mary
quite agreed too – but she said she thought we all ought to feel very charitably
towards her for that very cause – that she had let Joe go. I had not looked at
it in that light before – but I liked Mary for saying it. She is such a very
nice Mary. Joe will miss her dreadfully if he does not marry.
I should have thought I must have told
you that when we left Bosworth the 2 walnut trees both died. When I came back
here married, there they both were, dead – & did not attempt to put out a leaf
when summer came. Was it not strange? This man at the Hall has a most pernicious
taste for cutting down trees – I hear those two magnificent wych elms at the
entrance of the Deeping's Lane are marked to be cut down – & he had a timber
sale (of trees not yet cut down) last week, which brought him between 4 & 5000£.
I suppose it comes of having 6 daughters to provide for.
I think Cox Edwards met with his young
lady at Ilfracombe, where he went to read one vacation. She & her sister are
orphans – with 2 or 300 a year each – & they come & stay with old John Edwards
for months together.
Poor Miss Hook is so ill. You know she
is nearly blind now & the poor old lady a month or two ago in sitting down
missed her chair & fell backwards – & being very heavy & very helpless seems to
have smashed her back frightfully. They did not call John in for about a
fortnight – & for some time there seemed very faint hopes of her recovery, but
she is a little better now. Poor old Mary Hextall, whom you probably remember,
is dead. So is old Hannah Bates of Cadeby – so is George Cheshire.
I don't wonder at the way you speak of
Lord Canning – it is dreadful to see such a man in such a post, where you want
all the head & energy & spirit you can get.
How do you get on with your Harmonium
& music generally? Don't please give up singing – you have such a pleasant
voice. The Copes always are so glad to hear all about you. They are all very
well there. Some of the School Governors are trying to bully Mr
Cope out of the Scholarship for the two boys – on the ground that they go to
Coll from Rugby, not Bosworth. But as the Statutes only stipulate that they
shall have been scholars of Bos School for at least 3 years – & they were here 3
years, I don't see how they can do it. It is not so much the worth of the £80 a
year as that it offers the only chance of a Dixie living. Mr
Small, whose own son Harry went to Oxford from King's Coll London, & had the
scholarship, seems the prime mover in the affair. I think the man is mad. We
have such a Head now to the School – who knows nothing & does nothing. He is
going to marry a Miss Knowles of Nailstone – a cousin of Charles's.
Goodbye dear old Arthur. Write to me
when you have time; it is so pleasant to hear from you.
Always your very loving Emma Hubbard
Arthur's love & a kiss to you. He wants to know when you are coming here in
a ship.
The sheet is folded and sealed with wax. It is addressed to Arthur Phelps Esqr,
Commissariat Department, Rajkote, Bombay. At the top left is written 'viâ
Marseilles' and at bottom left '2d March'. It bears postmarks of
Hemel Hempstead Mar 2, 60 and London Mar 2, 60 as well as one of ?PO Mar 28, 60.