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Page 11
In 1815 troubles began from which the poor girl was never to be free
again. She lost one of her three little girls, Olivia Byron, for whom
the poet had been sponsor. "... It was with difficulty I could get
her away from her little dead baby," Moore tells his mother, "and then
only under a promise that she should see it again last night...." In
1817, while Moore was in Paris, pursuing his pleasures, another child,
Barbara, had a fall, and he came home in August to find her "very ill
indeed." On September 10th she is still ill, but if she should get a
little better, "I mean to go for a day or two to Lord Lansdowne's
to look at a house.... He has been searching his neighbourhood for a
habitation for me, in a way very flattering indeed from such a man."
But he did not go. September 20th, "It's all over, my dearest Mother!"
"Poor Bessy," we read, "neither eats nor sleeps enough hardly to
sustain life": nevertheless in the first week of October he is at
Bowood. "I arrived here the day before yesterday, and found Rogers,
Lord and Lady Kerry, etc." He saw Sloperton Cottage and stayed out
his week. Bessy then had to see the cottage, and went--but not from
Bowood. "Bessy, who went off the night before last to look at the
cottage near Lord Lansdowne's, is returned this morning, after
travelling both nights. Power went with her." In a month's time they
were in possession, and Tom vastly set up by the near neighbourhood of
his exalted friend. Not so, however, his Jenny Wren.
"... We are getting on here as quietly and comfortably as
possible, and the only thing I regret is the want of some near
and plain neighbours for Bessy to make an intimacy with, and
enjoy a little tea-drinking now and then, as she used to do
in Derbyshire. She contrives, however, to employ herself
very well without them; and her favourite task of cutting out
things for the poor people is here even in greater requisition
than we bargained for, as there never was such wretchedness in
any place where we have been; and the better class of people
(with but one or two exceptions) seem to consider their
contributions to the poor-rates as abundantly sufficient,
without making any further exertion towards the relief of the
poor wretches. It is a pity Bessy has not more means, for she
takes the true method of charity--that of going herself into
the cottages, and seeing what they are most in want of.
"Lady Lansdowne has been very kind indeed, and has a good deal
won me over (as you know, kindness _will_ do now and then).
After many exertions to get Bessy to go and dine there, I have
at last succeeded this week, in consequence of our being on
a visit to Bowles's, and her having the shelter of the poet's
old lady to protect her through the enterprise. She did not,
however, at all like it, and I shall not often put her to the
torture of it. In addition to her democratic pride--which I
cannot blame her for--which makes her prefer the company
of her equals to that of her superiors, she finds herself a
perfect stranger in the midst of people who are all intimate;
and this is a sort of dignified desolation which poor Bessy
is not at all ambitious of. Vanity gets over all these
difficulties; but pride is not so practicable."
Vanity indeed did, though Tom had a pride of his own too. But he was
soothed and not offended by pomp, whereas she was bored as well as
irritated. It is obvious that her wits were valid enough. She could be
happy with Rogers or the Bowleses, who could allow for simplicity, and
delight in it--a talent denied to the good Lansdownes. As for Bowles,
Tom is shrewd enough to remark upon "the mixture of talent and
simplicity in him."
"His parsonage-house at Brenthill is beautifully situated;
but he has a good deal frittered away its beauty in grottos,
hermitages and Shenstonian inscriptions. When company is
coming he cries, 'Here, John, run with the crucifix and missal
to the hermitage, and set the fountain going.' His sheep-bells
are tuned in thirds and fifths."
Such was Bowles, Bessy's best friend in Wilts.
Bowood to Tom was centre of his scheme of things; he was always there
on some pretext or other; or he would dine and sleep at Bowles's or at
Lacock Abbey, or spend days in Bath, or a week in London. It is true
that half his talent and more than half his fame were social: these
things were the bread as well as the butter of life to him. But here
is Bessy meantime:
"... Came home and found my dearest Bessy very tired after her
walk from church. She has been receiving the Sacrament,
and never did a purer heart.... In the note she wrote me to
Bowles's the day before, she said, 'I am sorry I am not to see
you before I go to church.'"
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