The Letters of the Duke of Wellington to Miss J., 1834-1851. Arthur Wellesley Wellington

was deepened by the commendations of her pious friends. It was not so common then as now to make pets of condemned criminals; and the success of this young girl in subduing a man with whom priests and parsons had hopelessly labored, created a sensation and called forth comment from the press. It would have been almost phenomenal had the girl's head not been turned. Her devotion to the advancement of the cause of Christ as she understood it, was strong and genuine. Surrounded by judicious advisers, she might have manifested her zeal in a different fashion. As it was, she now felt she had been especially called of God to do a great work. Looking around her for an object, her attention was drawn to the Duke of Wellington. She seemed to have known more of him as the public man than as the soldier; for she expressly states at a later period that when she first wrote to him she was not aware that he was the conqueror of Bonaparte, and did not even know when the Battle of Waterloo took place,—a statement that leads to the inference that instruction in the fashionable schools of that day dealt more with playing on the harp and similar showy accomplishments than with a knowledge of English history.

      Miss J. leaves in her Diary a list of the letters received from the Duke, prefacing them with the following introduction:—

      "Seeing that I have adverted in the former part of this book to the feelings experienced on our return from poor Cook, which induced me to look up to the Lord, enquiring what next HE would have me to do, receiving this precious reply, 'Greater things than these, that they may marvel;' and considering such words must have had a reference to his condescending dealings a few months afterwards in influencing me to write to the Duke upon the necessity of a new birth unto righteousness,—I am solicitous to devote a portion of this book to his letters, remarking thereon as the list thereof proceeds: May the Lord be with me, inclining my heart and pen to perform all his good will and pleasure, be that whatever it may, for his holy name' sake. Amen."

      The Duke of Wellington was at this time (1834) a man sixty-five years old. He was in the prime of strength and health, with a capacity for work which the roughing and the hard service he had undergone in earlier life had not in the least impaired. In spite of the passing unpopularity due to his opposition to the Reform Bill, that led to his being publicly hooted in 1832, he had had many high offices bestowed upon him. He had now been a widower for three years.

      CHAPTER II.

      FIRST INTERVIEWS

      Miss J.'s first letter to the duke was written on the 15th of January, 1834, from Devonshire, where she was spending several months. She was greatly encouraged by receiving an answer from the duke by return post. This letter is unfortunately missing, nor does Miss J. give extracts from it, as from many others, but she indulges in a few comments upon it.

      "It was," she says, "dated from Hartford Bridge, Jan. 18, 1833, instead of 1834,—a remarkable circumstance for one so accurate in such particulars. It had also a mistake in one place and a blot in two,—betraying consequently, I should imagine, feelings which overwhelmed him on the receipt of my Epistle; and since it is not at all unlikely that the same Lord who worked in me to write may ('His eyes being in every place') have allowed him to participate in the same in some way known only to Himself, in order to effect His purposes."

      Stimulated by this reception of her first venture, Miss J. proceeded further, and on the 24th of April carried a Bible to the town-house of the Duke, and with her own hand gave it into the charge of the servant. She writes a minute account of this occurrence:—

      "After earnest prayer the Bible was taken by me, with a fluttering, agitated feeling, to the Duke's gates and delivered into the porter's hands, after asking him if the Duke were at home. He replied, 'Yes, ma'am.' I then asked, 'Is he engaged?' He told me Lord—I forget his name—and Sir Thomas Somebody were with him. I then inquired, 'Who delivers parcels into His Grace's hands?' He respectfully said, 'I do, ma'am.' I rejoined, 'Then you will deliver that,'—returning home, marvelling wherefore such things were permitted, and what the end thereof would be. Of course a suitable note accompanied The Bible."

      The Duke was not as prompt in acknowledging "The Bible" as he had been in replying to the first note, for he did not write until the 27th of August. Even then the letter was delayed by a mistake he made in the address, directing the envelope to Mrs., instead of Miss J. She says, "I presume he was in doubt on the subject whether I was a married or single lady, as my signature could not decide on that point." In this note the Duke asks if he may not have the pleasure of meeting her; and Miss J., acting under the advice of her friend Mrs. L., grants his request and expresses her own desire to know him,—"considering it may be The Lord's will to permit personal interviews, proposing under such circumstances to use my influence with him; accordingly craving the Divine blessing thereon."

      From the Duke's reply, which follows, it is evident that she had corrected his uncertainty as to whether she was married or single:

Walmer Castle, Oct. 24, 1834.

      The Duke of Wellington presents his compliments to Miss J. The Duke has received her Letter in which she expresses a desire to see the Duke and that he should call upon her.

      The Duke has certainly received one, if not more, letters from Miss J., all written upon the same important subject and with the same beneficent object in view, although the desire to see the Duke was not expressed in them; and the Duke lately acknowledged the receipt of one, and of the book, etc., accompanying it.

      Although the Duke is not in the habit of visiting young unmarried ladies with whom he is not acquainted, he will not decline to attend Miss J. He is at present at a distance from London, and he will be detained at Walmer Castle by business in this part of the county for more than a fortnight.

      Miss J. will probably write to the Duke again, and will let him know whether she will be in London in a fortnight or three weeks from this time.

      This was followed by a note, dated November 8, renewing the expressions of the Duke's desire to meet one who took such an interest in his welfare, and informing Miss J. of his intention to call upon her the twelfth of the month. She was then with her friend Mrs. L. in lodgings in London, and here the Duke presented himself.

      The interview was most curious, and is fully described in Miss J.'s Diary. It seems to furnish the key to this correspondence, that lasted over seventeen years. Even the pietistic phrases with which Miss J.'s account is thickly interspersed are of value as demonstrating the woman's real character, and making plain how completely all that concerned her was subordinated to her conception of what constituted the glory of God. The full statement was not written immediately after the Duke's visit, although the main facts were noted in her Diary. The following narrative was committed to paper some years after the occurrence it reports. Her motive in giving particulars is, as she herself states, to protect herself, lest at her death some question might arise as to the precise relations that had existed between the Duke and herself.

      She writes:—

      "I was about to enter further into a copy of the list of the Duke's letters, in the book with the lock and key, without comment on the past; but I am not permitted to do so, considering the Lord is too jealous for his holy name to suffer me to be exposed to censure which a full knowledge of circumstances would explain and prevent. Consequently, however reluctant (recoiling from the task as I do) to enter into such, the honor due to the holy name so justly declared to be above every name demands the effort; and may HE, as I have upon my knees especially implored him, be with my pen accordingly, influencing it to write only what is agreeable to his unerring will, and likely to obtain the end in view above alluded to, for his holy name's sake! Since he must have influenced the Duke of Wellington to love me above every other lady upon earth from the first moment he beheld me, I am not afraid, as in his sight, to imply such feelings were permitted to exist towards one, through the workings of his power, for the accomplishment of his own ends, be they whatever they may,—which ends, however varying from those I had naturally anticipated, will, I trust, redound far more to His Glory than my anticipations, if realized, could possibly have done.

      "I say naturally anticipated! And who can presume to think such were not justifiable when the individual thus brought into my presence by 'the Lord of Lords' for the purpose of receiving instruction from his holy word, never