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Description
Lord Kenyon tells Chase the sad news of his daughter Margaret's death. He also discusses current affairs in England and reiterates his confidence in Mr. West.
Date
5-1-1829
Keywords
Margaret Kenyon, Protestant Episcopal Ministry, Marianna Kenyon, Percy Kenyon, Lloyd Kenyon, Edward Kenyon, Duke of Wellington, King George III, Duke of York, Mr. West
Recommended Citation
Lord Kenyon, "Letter to Philander Chase" (1829). Philander Chase Letters. 791.
https://digital.kenyon.edu/chase_letters/791
Rights Statement
Transcript
Portman Lye
May 1 - 1829
My dearest Bishop
Your kind letters were most welcome. I could only have wished they had told a more completely satisfactory tale of the success of your pious work. However 40 Pupils for the true X’n Church, & most perhaps for the pure Protestant Episcopal Ministry, & a family of 100 X’ns in the Wildern of Ohio are indeed blessings which previous to 1824 could not have been hoped for; and are blessings indeed; wh. by His mercy who has vouchsafed them I trust will lead to more & more. That you may be spared to see the blessed fruit of your pious exertions I most humble pray. So indeed did my blessed Angel Marg’t & so she still removed from my sight, but never absent from my mind. In her I had as it were a wife and daughter in one, tho’ the sad loss of my Angel Wife cd never be returned to me in this world. But my sweet 2nd Marg’t was a jewel to me indeed: all she suffered for 4 long months, & the goodness & sweetness of her disposition causing & heightening all her sad sufferings, will ever make my remembrance of them bitter indeed. After what I trusted wd be to her a most happy marriage, in 4 days her husband whom she most tenderly loved, (& between whom & her a tender attachment had existed for 2 or 3 years) went completely out of his head, & so frightened her as to produce a brain fever. She recovered her fine understanding again in 10 days or so; but after waiting 2 months in patient hopes of his recovery, & hopelessness taking the place of hope, grief seized her dear mind & produced occasional nervous [delusions] which prevailed more or less for about 2 months after which her dear mind again entirely returned with all its characteristick [sic] piety, resignation, feelings, & affections. I watched her 3 months more declining from a broken heart, hopeless of being that blessing she desired to be to her beloved husband, the weakness of whose mind [made] it unsafe that she should have his society again. At length on the 3rd of Feb’ry I alone closed her precious eyes, being engaged with her in the act of prayer at the very minute she breathed her last.
That she is happy for ever, & that she never could again have been so here, is my great consolation: that I may be permitted in God’s good time to be restored to her & to my other no less precious precious Marg’t gone before, is my humble constant prayer; & for your prayers for me I affect’ly beg, & am sure they will not be refused. Good G Marriott has told you that in her sweet name, & let it never be forgotten (I am sure you will not) £500 will be forthcoming when you please for Ohio. My sweet Marianna & Percy, Lloyd & Edward are all well, & all great blessings for wh. I thank God; but I must ever lament my own Marg’t till the time of my relapse draws nigh; tho’ for all the world I would not withdraw her from the joys to which I am very sure by her beloved Redeemer’s merits she is admitted. I am going to take my 2 precious rem’g girls abroad for a 3 or 4 months to restore their broken hearts. I hope to show them Rome Naples Venice & part of Switzerland, but we shall not be less English & Protestant when we return than now. Caelum non animum mutant qui trans mare currunt.
The duke of Wellington has inflicted on this [?] Protestant Nation a curse which far surpasses in extent the benefit which Waterloo bestowed. Some of our Bishops too have shocked us much. The King wanted resolution. George III’rd or the Duke of York would not so have yielded. To your excellent Wife I must beg my heartfelt respects. Of West I have quite a high opinion, & am satisfied he is entirely devoted to you & to Ohio. I hope we shall soon send him back to you with rich store of money & books. Every my dearest Bishop yours most affect’ly
Kenyon