Frances, Lady Morley's letters are full of news and gossip, keeping her sister in law fully up to date with every detail of the family's highs and lows as well as every day minutiae which we would consider pretty boring to receive in a letter today. Occasionally she reveals her own opinions and it would appear that she herself had received an education which was superior to most other young women of the time. One of her letters, however, reveals her opinion of education which she considers to be irksome in the extreme but necessary particularly for boys when they have reached beyond their sixth year. Accordingly at her husband's behest she undertook her son's education herself rather than continue to employ a Governess, as they considered it would be better for him.
"I do assure you upon my word that I have not mania whatever for education but on the contrary I think the task of 'teaching the young idea' to read write and cast accounts one of the most irksome that can well be imposed upon one and that I do it more from a sense of duty than inclination because his Lordship wishes that I should do it rather than have the incumbrance of a governess and I really do think Edmund is beginning to be too old to be left in a state of utter ignorance which of course unless I undertake to teach him regularly must be the case as he has only nursery maids about him.", 24th October, 1816 Lady Morley to Theresa Villiers. BL/48240
Her stepson Henry had been sent away to Dr William Pearson's Preparatory School for Boys at East Sheen as a weekly boarder going to his Aunt Theresa's house at weekends. Both she and his father comment on his behaviour when recently returned from school 'swaggering' and 'odious' in turn, taking several days to return to his normal self. Frances was also disappointed when Lord Boringdon's illegitimate son George had to go to public school which she believed would spoil him. Perhaps these experiences influenced the decision to keep Edmund at home as long as she could.
Frances's own education seems to have been rather more superior than some women of her time and is revealed in her choice of reading and her knowledge of the classics which she frequently quotes to make her point.
"I do assure you upon my word that I have not mania whatever for education but on the contrary I think the task of 'teaching the young idea' to read write and cast accounts one of the most irksome that can well be imposed upon one and that I do it more from a sense of duty than inclination because his Lordship wishes that I should do it rather than have the incumbrance of a governess and I really do think Edmund is beginning to be too old to be left in a state of utter ignorance which of course unless I undertake to teach him regularly must be the case as he has only nursery maids about him.", 24th October, 1816 Lady Morley to Theresa Villiers. BL/48240
Her stepson Henry had been sent away to Dr William Pearson's Preparatory School for Boys at East Sheen as a weekly boarder going to his Aunt Theresa's house at weekends. Both she and his father comment on his behaviour when recently returned from school 'swaggering' and 'odious' in turn, taking several days to return to his normal self. Frances was also disappointed when Lord Boringdon's illegitimate son George had to go to public school which she believed would spoil him. Perhaps these experiences influenced the decision to keep Edmund at home as long as she could.
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| The Library, Saltram House |
A recurring subject contained within the letters are the numerous books she had been reading, her comments on how much she had enjoyed them or otherwise and her recommendations. Books were her solace, it was where she retreated when sorrow overtook her following family tragedies. At these times her husband tells us that she took comfort from serious and religious works.
The library at Saltram House was significantly improved at the beginning of the 19th century prior to that the collection was not rated very highly by Frederick Robinson who wrote "........the worst collection of books I have ever seen".
Amongst her many talents Frances was fond of writing stories and amusing poetry, illustrated with her distinctive cartoon characters. A good example of her work is a poem in six stanzas called 'The Nose', published in 1831 it does not carry her name but relates to the fate of Dorothy Spriggins. Frances gave all her characters quirky names which are instantly recognisable when coupled with her very distinctive drawings.
'It is now near forty years, I guess,
Since I was a girl coming out,
And Spriggins proposed, and I said "Yes"
At old Lady Mumble's rout,
My match was reckon'd by no means bad,
Take the marring world as it goes:-
But then, I must own, Mr Spriggins had
A remarkably ugly nose.'
Lady Morley's name was also on a novel in three volumes as 'Editor', this was 'Dacre' written by her niece Maria Lister. What exactly this meant is not clear, but some scholars believe she was rather more than just the editor. It was not unknown for ladies of quality to be published writers but it was fairly unusual, however, Frances's work may not have been exceptionally scholarly but she had gained a certain reputation for her writing. In 1813 Jane Austen published her second novel 'Pride and Prejudice', the authorship of her first book, Sense and Sensibility was attributed to 'A Lady'.
There were people who believed that the lady was in fact Frances. The novelist Mary Russell Mitford was on friendly terms with Sir William Elford a neighbour of the Parker's, in November 1813 she asks him in a letter:
'Pray is not your neighbour Lady Boringdon, an authoress? I have heard two novels in high repute (but which I have not read), 'Sense and Sensibility' and 'Pride and Prejudice' ascribed to her'
Frances herself confirms these opinions, in a letter dated 1813 she tells of a visit from Lady Lopes a neighbour who, although titled, was in fact the second wife of her husband Sir Masseh Lopes of Maristow and had formerly been his first wife's lady's maid and does not appear to have been highly educated and probably had limited reading abilities. Lady Lopes tells Frances that her niece had read Pride and Prejudice to her and she had immediately guessed that Frances had been the author because Mr Darcy was indeed Lord Boringdon and she had recognised him immediately. Frances, no doubt with a mischievous gleam in her eye, did not hasten to correct her!
'Pray is not your neighbour Lady Boringdon, an authoress? I have heard two novels in high repute (but which I have not read), 'Sense and Sensibility' and 'Pride and Prejudice' ascribed to her'
Frances herself confirms these opinions, in a letter dated 1813 she tells of a visit from Lady Lopes a neighbour who, although titled, was in fact the second wife of her husband Sir Masseh Lopes of Maristow and had formerly been his first wife's lady's maid and does not appear to have been highly educated and probably had limited reading abilities. Lady Lopes tells Frances that her niece had read Pride and Prejudice to her and she had immediately guessed that Frances had been the author because Mr Darcy was indeed Lord Boringdon and she had recognised him immediately. Frances, no doubt with a mischievous gleam in her eye, did not hasten to correct her!
Frances clearly enjoyed Pride and Prejudice for she gives the novel to her companion Miss Smith to read, Frances writes:
"Fanny Smith is in ecstacy over Pride and Predjudice. I told you how like Mrs Bennett was to her mother. I had not told her this before she read it, but it strikes her so much that she makes an exclamation at every page and the best of all is to make the likeness perfect (a treat that I did not know) that Mrs S used to be reproaching Colonel S whenever she was out of humour, at the entail of the Camelford Estate being cut off which she was convinced they had no right to do and which he ought to have prevented".
Later that same year Frances is still enjoying the character's similarity to people known to her she writes to tell Theresa that Miss Smith had received a letter from her mother which was "....so exactly what Mrs Bennett would have written that I thought we should both have died of it - the girls (Miss Smith's sisters) have absolutely got some officers and she thinks it so very ill noticed of their father (Mr Bennett) that he will not let them go a pleasuring with them".
"Fanny Smith is in ecstacy over Pride and Predjudice. I told you how like Mrs Bennett was to her mother. I had not told her this before she read it, but it strikes her so much that she makes an exclamation at every page and the best of all is to make the likeness perfect (a treat that I did not know) that Mrs S used to be reproaching Colonel S whenever she was out of humour, at the entail of the Camelford Estate being cut off which she was convinced they had no right to do and which he ought to have prevented".
Later that same year Frances is still enjoying the character's similarity to people known to her she writes to tell Theresa that Miss Smith had received a letter from her mother which was "....so exactly what Mrs Bennett would have written that I thought we should both have died of it - the girls (Miss Smith's sisters) have absolutely got some officers and she thinks it so very ill noticed of their father (Mr Bennett) that he will not let them go a pleasuring with them".
However, the novel had yet to continue its journey through the family, later in the year the book gets taken up by Lord Boringdon himself when he learns that Lady Lopes has remarked upon his likeness to Mr Darcy. He surprises Frances when he gets involved in the story Frances writes:
"...Milord is absolutely in the middle of 'Pride and Prejudice' and though both ingredients operate in his nature to set him against this style of company he is there introduced to yet he cannot help for the life of him exclaiming now and then 'That is very natural' and really upon the whole tolerates it more than I expected."
Clearly this novel struck chords for Frances on several levels, it reflected real life in print, perhaps making a refreshing change from some of the more serious works which she had been reading.
There is nothing in the letters exchanged between Frances and her sister in law to suggest that she was on intimate terms with Jane Austen, however, her reputation as a writer herself and perhaps having made her acquaintance on a visit to Bath prompted Miss Austen to send Frances one of the first copies of her newest novel 'Emma'. There is a brief exchange of correspondence which is merely an acknowledgement from Frances of receipt of the copy and a reply from Miss Austen reproduced below:
Miss Austen's rather obsequious reply would perhaps not have been quite so confident had she had sight of the subsequent exchange of letters between Frances and Theresa which discuss her opinion of the novel. Initially she seems to have been excited about the prospect of a good read, but that was based on the first few pages:
However, a few days later she was half way through volume one and her opinion was changing:
"...Milord is absolutely in the middle of 'Pride and Prejudice' and though both ingredients operate in his nature to set him against this style of company he is there introduced to yet he cannot help for the life of him exclaiming now and then 'That is very natural' and really upon the whole tolerates it more than I expected."
Clearly this novel struck chords for Frances on several levels, it reflected real life in print, perhaps making a refreshing change from some of the more serious works which she had been reading.
There is nothing in the letters exchanged between Frances and her sister in law to suggest that she was on intimate terms with Jane Austen, however, her reputation as a writer herself and perhaps having made her acquaintance on a visit to Bath prompted Miss Austen to send Frances one of the first copies of her newest novel 'Emma'. There is a brief exchange of correspondence which is merely an acknowledgement from Frances of receipt of the copy and a reply from Miss Austen reproduced below:
Miss J. Austen to the Countess of Morley.Saltram: (December 27, 1815).MADAM, -- I have been most anxiously waiting for an introduction to "Emma," and am infinitely obliged to you for your kind recollection of me, which will procure me the pleasure of her acquaintance some days sooner than I should otherwise have had it. I am already become intimate with the Woodhouse family, and feel that they will not amuse and interest me less than the Bennetts, Bertrams, Norrises, and all their admirable predecessors. I can give them no higher praise.
I am, Madam, your much obliged
F. MORLEY.
MADAM, -- Accept my thanks for the honour of your note, and for your kind disposition in favour of "Emma." In my present state of doubt as to her reception in the world, it is particularly gratifying to me to receive so early an assurance of your Ladyship's approbation. It encourages me to depend on the same share of general good opinion which "Emma's" predecessors have experienced and to believe that I have not yet, as almost every writer of fancy does sooner or later, overwritten myself.
I am, Madam
Your obliged and faithful servt.J. AUSTEN.
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| Jane Austen sketch by her sister Cassandra |
Miss Austen's rather obsequious reply would perhaps not have been quite so confident had she had sight of the subsequent exchange of letters between Frances and Theresa which discuss her opinion of the novel. Initially she seems to have been excited about the prospect of a good read, but that was based on the first few pages:
26th December 1815,"I have just received from the author Miss Austen's new novel 'Emma' and look forward with no small satisfaction to reading it. I just looked into the first two or three pages and think it promises well"
However, a few days later she was half way through volume one and her opinion was changing:
29th December 1815, "I have got half through the 1st volume of 'Emma' therefore it is not fair to judge it but I do not as yet think it as good as the others - tho there is a great deal that is good and like herself. She a little draws out her conversations too long, I think but they are excellent and most admirably in character, there is something in it that puts me in mind of Discipline that is to say more in the character of Emma and in a Mr Knightley who is I suppose is to turn out the hero who is like Maitland. I want to hear what you think."
Her sister in law is clearly also reading the book, but before she can reply a further letter contains yet more comments:
7th January 1816: "Emma does not satisfy me at all and you imagine that it does not excite a very high interest when I tell you that I have not finished it: still there are people who it is impossible not to have a taste for."
By the end of the month Theresa had replied with what we can only speculate as surprise that Frances did not like the book. She replies, maybe a little tetchily:
27th January 1816: I did not say (I think) that I did not like Emma I only said I did not like it so well as Mansfield Park or Pride and Prejudice - nor more I do. I think there is much in it that is admirable. Mr Woodhouse, Mrs Elton, Miss Bates and a few others are delightful but there is such a total want of story and there is very little like in the heroine and so little to interest in the hero who gives me only the idea of an elderly sensible good sort of man - with all due deference to your better judgement I do think that Emma's passion for matchmaking is by no means natural. A matchmaking miss is a nondescript that in a matter so much more confined to the matronly part of her sex that surely with all the sense and cleverness which is represented to possess it is not natural that she should have formed such a violent friendship with such a vulgar little fool as Harriet, then surely her talking characters tell too much - the pages filled with Miss Bates and Mrs Elton would make up one of the volumes and that is more than can be afforded - still their conversations are certainly admirable Mr & Mrs Elton are charming people I have seen fifty such people as her"
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| George 6th Lord Byron |
Her sister in law Theresa Villiers was on friendly terms with Lord Byron and tries to help and advise his family during their difficult and sometimes scandalous period. Therefore it is not surprising that there are numerous references to Lord Byron in their correspondence. Despite the scandals surrounding him and his affairs Frances is a great admirer of his work, she reads his heroic poem 'The Bride of Abydos' and is full of praise for 'Lara' ".............nothing ever was so beautiful and the description of himself even outdoes the 'Corsair' (published anonymously)". Just a few days later she tells Theresa that she has re-read 'Lara' and then another book which proved so inferior that she threw it away "..............after having my head exalted by the genius of Lord Byron". This is so typical of her sweeping statements and grand gestures. However, as time passes and more details of his alleged wrong doings become public her opinion of him as man slips further and further down until she refers to him as a 'horrible monster'3 and feels anger towards those who support him. The winter of 1815/16 sees the whole family confined to Saltram House with various colds, coughs and other ailments, this gives plenty of opportunity for reading, but seriously limits the amount of information about the continuing scandal surrounding Lord Byron and Caroline Lamb. Theresa supplies all the details which eventually leads Frances to declare that he is "a monster of iniquity"
Her letters are dotted with references to her latest 'read', she seems to be very in touch with which books are creating the biggest talking points and freely gives her opinion. Great praise is heaped on a novel called 'Rhoda', in her letter she does not mention the author, possibly because it was initially published anonymously. However, this book was by a fairly unknown novelist Frances Jacson, perhaps she was not personally known to Frances Parker but they had mutual friends in the Freres and the Rev Sydney Smith. She says of this book:
11th February 1816: "So well written and the characters so admirably drawn the dialogue (when it occurs) so good and the interest so well kept up but above all the picture of fashionable life is the best by far I ever met with in a novel - it is the beau monde itself without exaggeration or the vulgarity with which it is generally described by novel writers"
Frances Jacson was compared to Jane Austen and some preferred her crafting of society characters.
Frances, Lady Morley is highly amused to compare the Prince of Wales and his mistress Lady Hertford to the hero Rinaldo in the newly published poem 'Rinaldo and Armida' by Torquato Tasso an Italian poet. The story is of a sorceress who lures a handsome warrior away from his journey to the Crusades. She writes:
25th January, 1816: "...our pot bellied regent (Rinaldo) and his broad bottomed chere amie (Armida)"
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| Lady Hertford John Hoppner 1800 |
On the rare occasion her passion for reading meets her talent as an artist, in the Western Apartments at Saltram House there are two paintings attributed to Lady Morley with a Scottish theme. In a letter to Lady Grey in 1843 she reminisces about her visit to the Greys at Howick in Northumberland the previous year. Describing how they spent many a happy evening sitting around the table doing their cross stitch whilst Lord Grey read aloud from 'Rob Roy'. It is not a great leap to imagine her being inspired by this book to reproduce some scenes at her easel to keep the memory of happy times alive.
Lady Caroline Lamb published her novel 'Glenarvon' in 1816, this was an instant success since she was a major player in the scandal surrounding Lord Byron and had so publicly and remorselessly stalked him after he rejected her. Her characters were thinly veiled members of society (with Lord Byron the dastardly Lord Ruthven) and Frances tries to identify them, she enjoyed the novel very much unlike Lady Jersey, Lord Morley's ex sister in law and one of the patronesses of the very famous Almack's club. She certainly did recognise herself and permanently banned Caroline Lamb from Almack's as a result she never again found a place in the best society.
In the winter of 1815/16 she also read 'Don Roderick' (full title Roderick The Last of the Goths) by Robert Southey commenting "...I know it is a toss up............whether you hate it or like it", she refrained from giving her verdict until after Theresa had read the book. Clearly it also received a positive response from her sister in law since a few weeks later she writes: "I was so glad that you like 'Don Roderick', I was so very much pleased with it". This was a very dark poem about invading armies, defiling of women and banishment of the hero, very far from the light novels of Miss Austen!
Her love of literature continued throughout her life, A letter to Lady Grey in 1847 highly recommends Leigh Hunt's 'The Town' which charts the history of London. She writes:
8th February 1847: "...........a very good history of this stage and all its best performances and writers - and equally good sketch of the court from Henry the 8th to George 3rd - quantities of amusing wits and authors of the 17th century - in short it has amused me exceedingly - and if you want a bit of light reading (only two volumes), I recommend you to try it."
It would seem she liked a book that made her laugh - such a book was 'The Clockmaker' or 'The Sayings and Doings of Sam Slick of Slickville', published in Paris in 1839 it is in reality set in America. Having read a little of this book, it is difficult to see what she found so amusing, perhaps it is the chapter on 'English Aristocracy and Yankee Mobocracy', in a letter to Lady Grey she writes:
20th September 1841: "Have you read the second volume of Sam Slick The Clockmaker? If you have not pray do it will kill you with laughing as it nearly did me."
Never afraid to shy away from giving an opinion, in 1849 she has read 'Uncle Tom's Cabin' by Harriet Beecher Stowe, her views are clearly very strong:
16th November 1849; "I never was so interested in any book as in Uncle Tom's Cabin' - I think if any good could be done in that dreadful system that must have weight - but there are such conflicting interests in that disagreeable country that I doubt its ever being got rid of..."
In the same letter she remarks that she has nearly finished a novel by her Godchild Georgiana Fullerton, the daughter of their great friend Granville Leveson Gower. Georgiana was a prolific novelist and the book she was reading was probably 'Ellen Middleton' which had been published in 1847. She is clearly very proud of having a Godchild who follows a pursuit so close to her own heart, and remarks that her novels are well received earning ".....Praise and praise that is worth having". For our modern taste these books are difficult to read both in language and subject but, of course, times and tastes constantly change.
In 1854 when she was nearing the end of her life her portrait was painted by Sant, in this picture she is shown looking out at the world but in her hands she holds an open book, it is just as if we have interrupted her reading for just a moment. .
Sadly it would seem that little remains of her collection of books in the library at Saltram House today, there is a copy of her personal bible bearing her name and she was instrumental in the re-organisation of the books when the library was enlarged in the early years of the 19th century. With so many beautiful locations to sit and read at Saltram House, both inside the house and in the gardens it is not difficult to imagine Frances and Miss Smith whiling away the hours with a good book.
8th February 1847: "...........a very good history of this stage and all its best performances and writers - and equally good sketch of the court from Henry the 8th to George 3rd - quantities of amusing wits and authors of the 17th century - in short it has amused me exceedingly - and if you want a bit of light reading (only two volumes), I recommend you to try it."
It would seem she liked a book that made her laugh - such a book was 'The Clockmaker' or 'The Sayings and Doings of Sam Slick of Slickville', published in Paris in 1839 it is in reality set in America. Having read a little of this book, it is difficult to see what she found so amusing, perhaps it is the chapter on 'English Aristocracy and Yankee Mobocracy', in a letter to Lady Grey she writes:
20th September 1841: "Have you read the second volume of Sam Slick The Clockmaker? If you have not pray do it will kill you with laughing as it nearly did me."
Never afraid to shy away from giving an opinion, in 1849 she has read 'Uncle Tom's Cabin' by Harriet Beecher Stowe, her views are clearly very strong:
16th November 1849; "I never was so interested in any book as in Uncle Tom's Cabin' - I think if any good could be done in that dreadful system that must have weight - but there are such conflicting interests in that disagreeable country that I doubt its ever being got rid of..."
In the same letter she remarks that she has nearly finished a novel by her Godchild Georgiana Fullerton, the daughter of their great friend Granville Leveson Gower. Georgiana was a prolific novelist and the book she was reading was probably 'Ellen Middleton' which had been published in 1847. She is clearly very proud of having a Godchild who follows a pursuit so close to her own heart, and remarks that her novels are well received earning ".....Praise and praise that is worth having". For our modern taste these books are difficult to read both in language and subject but, of course, times and tastes constantly change.
In 1854 when she was nearing the end of her life her portrait was painted by Sant, in this picture she is shown looking out at the world but in her hands she holds an open book, it is just as if we have interrupted her reading for just a moment. .
Sadly it would seem that little remains of her collection of books in the library at Saltram House today, there is a copy of her personal bible bearing her name and she was instrumental in the re-organisation of the books when the library was enlarged in the early years of the 19th century. With so many beautiful locations to sit and read at Saltram House, both inside the house and in the gardens it is not difficult to imagine Frances and Miss Smith whiling away the hours with a good book.
