PREFACE

IN going through the first issue of my Mother's Autobiography (which was intended solely for private circulation), with a view to its publication, I have found it extremely difficult to make any change in the book without injury to its interest. I therefore let it go before the public with very little alteration, from the feeling that although unknown as a writer of books, the use she made of Life has an interest of its own which makes the publication of this volume less presumptuous than it would otherwise have been.

I confess that it is a great pleasure to me to feel that one whose estimate of her own place in the world was always so modest, and who never anticipated the circulation of her Autobiography beyond the circle of her friends and descendants, should still excite so much interest in " the city of her affections" as to make the call for this publication one I was glad to yield to, and I have therefore left the book very much the same as it was, except with the addition of some letters from those among her friends not unknown to the world by their own words and works.

M. R.
LANCRIGG, April 1875.

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AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MRS. FLETCHER
WITH LETTERS AND OTHER FAMILY MEMORIALS.

EDITED BY THE SURVIVOR OF HER FAMILY.

" We live by Admiration, Hope, and Love,  And even as these are well and wisely fixed, In dignity of being we ascend." 
The Excursion.

EDINBURGH: EDMONSTON AND DOUGLAS. 1875.

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AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MRS. FLETCHER.
PART I.

I WAS born on the 15th of January 1770, at the village  of Oxton, near Tadcaster, in Yorkshire. My father was
descended from a respectable race of yeomen, his grandfather having purchased a small estate in the township of
Oxton, in the time of Charles II., as appears by the title-deeds. His father, in addition to his paternal property, rented a large farm at Wighill Grange, the property of the Stapletons of Wighill Park. My mother was the eldest daughter of William Hill, Esquire, of Oxton, who inherited a considerable estate, which had lineally descended to him from the time of Queen Elizabeth, his ancestor being a younger brother of the Hills of Marston.

My father was a man of quick parts and ingenuous dispositions, but having a disinclination to the learned languages as a boy, and a strong preference for figures, he studied geometry and mensuration under the Rev. Mr. Atkinson, of Thorp Arch, and was, at fifteen, apprenticed to Mr. Lund, a land-surveyor and land-valuer, at Dring Houses, near York. He was the eldest of four children, and his father dying when he was about twenty, he succeeded to the small estate at Oxton, which, with industrious attention to his business, enabled him to marry Miss Hill in 1768, when he established himself at Oxton.

My father and mother had been acquainted from their childhood ; for though her condition was somewhat
superior to his, yet his sister and she being at the York Manor Boarding School together, and being neighbours in the country, they were early thrown together, and could scarcely remember the time when they did not love each other better than they loved any one else. My mother's early attachment was put to the test, for at the Manor School she became intimate with a young lady of ancient family and aristocratic connexions, and, moreover, an
heiress, with whom my mother afterwards visited the then fashionable places of resort, such as Bath and Clifton, as well as London and Windsor, when Miss Hebburn occasionally visited these places under the care of her maternal aunt and guardian, Mrs. Johnstone. My mother's personal attractions and pleasing manners brought many admirers round her, but her first love made her indifferent to their attentions, and in October 1768, when she was twenty-four years of age, she rewarded my father's constancy and worth by becoming his wife. Their happiness was not of long duration. At the end of the first year she had a still-born male child, and at the beginning of the year 1770 she died of milk-fever, after 1 child-birth of me. ...

CONTENTS
PART I.
Birth at Oxton, January 1770 Her mother's death Her mother's  friendship at school Mrs. Brudenell's history Happy childhood at , Oxton The Dawson family Mrs. Brudenell's separation from her husband, 1776 Settles at Oxton The mother- want supplied by Aunt Dawson Cousins at Wighill Grange Happy days there The Hill family Her aunt Mary Hill Her love of hunting cured Mr. Hill's letter to his sou, 1767 Traditions in the Hill family of Grace Hill and Will Hill at Marston Moor Sir George Savile in 1779 Traditions of her youthful days Sampler disclosures Account of Oxton scenery and May-day festivities First grief going to Manor School Life there Friendships formed there Leaves school in summer, 1785 Home life and happiness Happy Highland tour Ann Yearsley, E. Anthony, and Sarah Watson the good servant Death of grandmother, 1787 First lovers First meeting with Mr. Fletcher, 1787 First impressions deepened in 1788 Rev. E. Cartwright's friendship George Crabbe's visit with his wife Recollections of John Wesley Rev. J. Clowes Second visit to Perth Visit to Ripon Lord Grantley Mr. Fletcher's letter in 1787 Correspondence continued with Mr. Fletcher Her father's strong opposition to the marriage Her engagement Extract from letters to Mr. Fletcher Marriage, 16th July 1791 Sorrowful feelings Reflections on that event Letter to Miss Cleaver Mr. Cartwright's lines to E. D. in a blank leaf of Lavater's work, .

PART II.

Early married life and happiness Letter to Mrs. Laycock Edinburgh friendships formed Society there Thomas Muir Her father's Death of her son Miles, August 1831 Letter to Mrs. Davy at Malta Visit to Coniston and Brougham Hall Edinburgh winter First popular Election there Letter from T. Campbell Return to Tadcaster, 1833 Letter to Mrs. Davy Take lodgings at Thorney How in July First knowledge of Easedale Visit to Southey See much of Wordsworth Return to TadcasterYork meeting in honour of Wilberforce Death of Aunt Dawson Her character Leave Tadcaster, May 1834 A month in London Lord Brougham's kindness A tour in North Devon, and visit near Ilfracombe Take a house near Hawkshead Return of Dr. and Mrs. Davy from Malta Happy family meeting at Keen Ground in May 1835 Take house at Darland Cottage near Chatham Swiss tour in June and July 1836 General La Harpe described in letter to Mrs. Boott Excursions in Kent Wordsworth's visit at Darland, August 1837 Visit to London- First meeting with Mazzini Two letters from him to Mrs F. Visit at Oxton on the way to Edinburgh Take villa of Duncliffe Kindness of friends Letters from George Ticknor, Boston, and Joanna Baillie Aunt Mary Hill's illness and death, 1839 Lancrigg for sale Dora Wordsworth's letter Purchase of Lancrigg Take possession of it, May 1840 Walk with Wordsworth in Easedale Westmoreland workmen Hartley Coleridge Mrs. Fletcher's illness, 1842 Dr. Arnold's death Last winter at Duncliffe Return to Lancrigg as a residence Christmas festivities Sonnet by Mr. Graves, 15th January 1845 Visit to Blackheath, April 1845 Mazzini Visit to Edinburgh, spring 1846 Dr. Chalmers Winter at Lancrigg Spring at Leamington, London, and visits in South To Lancrigg, May 1847 Letter to Mrs. Chapman Letter from Lord Jeffrey, May 1847 Her daughter Mary's marriage to Sir John Richardson, August 1847 Visit to Liverpool, February 1848 Mrs. Rathbone London and Haslar Letter to Mrs. Stark Mary Barton and Mrs. Gaskell Lines on 1st May 1849, by E. F. Letter to Sir J. Richardson To her daughter Mary Meeting Chevalier Bunsen Letters to Mrs. Boott and Mrs. Arnold Letters to Mrs. Burge and Mrs. Davy London meeting with Mr. Rogers, April 1850 Death and funeral of Wordsworth Letters to Lady Richardson Lines on leaving Grasmere Churchyard, April 27, 1850, by E. F. Letter from Joanna Baillie to Mrs. Fletcher Letter to Harriet Martineau on Somerset the slave Letter to her daughter Mary, 1850 Lord Cockburn to Mrs. F. Last Edinburgh visit Her grandson Henry's marriage Kossuth Mrs. Gaskell Thomas Wright London Mazzini Winter at Haslar To Mrs. Arnold, Fox How To Mrs. Davy on her birthday, 1852 Letter to same about excursions from Haslar Return to Lancrigg in April Visitors there, Sir Edward and Lady Parry Lord Cockburn's letter to Mrs. F. with his Life of Jeffrey, 1852 Lines on Wordsworth and his sister Sonnet to Mrs. Fletcher by R. P. Graves on 84th Birthday Letters to Mrs. Hughes and Mrs. Arnold Letters from Mazzini Death of Lord Cockburn Letter to Mrs. Hughes Visit of Mrs. Empson Meets Lord John Russell, 1854 Springfield Lodge Winter Letters on the return of troops Letter on Edward Richardson's death Last month of housekeeping Death of Josephine Richardson Illness and death of E. Davy, 1857 Last letter to Mrs. Stark, October 1857 Increasing depression Death, 5th February 1858 Letter from Rev. R. P. Graves to Lady Richardson, 180

CONCLUDING CHAPTER, 327

MEMOIR OF GRACE FLETCHER, BY HER MOTHER, . . .341

MEMOIR OF ARCHIBALD FLETCHER, ADVOCATE, BY HIS
WIDOW, 361

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