Lady Asgill to Count de Vergennes-Appeal in behalf of her Son. Wishing you a safe and agreeable passage, with a perfect restoration of your health, I have the honor to be Very respectfully, etc. XXXIX.—APPEAL IN BEHALF OF HER SON. Lady Asgill to Count De Vergennes. LONDON, July 18th, 1782. SIR: If the politeness of the French Court will permit an application of a stranger, there can be no doubt but one, in which all the tender feelings of an individual can be interested, will meet with a favorable reception from a nobleman, whose character does honor not only to his own country, but to human nature. The subject, sir, on which I presume to implore your assistance, is too heart-piercing for me to dwell on, and common fame has, most probably, informed you of it; it, therefore, renders the painful task unnecessary. My son (an only son), as dear as he is brave, amiable as he is deserving to be so, only nineteen, a prisoner under the articles of capitulation at Yorktown, is now confined in America, an object of retaliation. Shall an innocent suffer for the guilty? Represent to yourself, sir, the situation of a family under these circumstances; surrounded, as I am, by objects of distress, distracted with fear and grief, no words can express my feelings, or paint the scene. My husband, given over by his physicians a few hours before the news arrived, and not in a state to be informed of the misfortune; my daughter, seized with a fever and delirium, raving about her brother, and without one interval of reason, save to hear heart-rending circumstances. Let your feelings, sir, suggest and plead for my inexpressible Count de Vergennes to General Washington-Answer to the Same. misery. A word from you, like a voice from heaven, will save us from distraction and wretchedness. I am well informed General Washington reveres your character; say but to him you wish my son to be released, and he will restore him to his distracted family, and render him to happiness. My son's virtue and bravery will justify the deed. His honor, sir, carried him to America. He was born to affluence, independence, and the happiest prospects. Let me again supplicate your goodness; let me respectfully implore your high influence in behalf of innocence; in the cause of justice, of humanity, that you would, sir, despatch a letter to General Washington from France, and favor me with a copy of it, to be sent from hence. I am sensible of the liberty I have taken in making this request; but I am sensible that, whether you comply with it or not, you will pity the distress that suggests it; your humanity will drop a tear on the fault, and efface it. I will pray that Heaven may grant you may never want the comfort it is in your power to bestow on ASGILL. XL.--ANSWER TO THE SAME. Count de Vergennes * to General Washington. VERSAILLES, 29th July, 1782. SIR: It is not in quality of a king, the friend and ally of the United States (though with the knowledge and consent of his Majesty), that I now have the honor to write to your Exellency. It is as a man of sensibility, and a tender father, who feels all the force of paternal love, that I take the liberty to address to your Excellency * The letter of Count de Vergennes, enclosing that of Lady Asgill, in connection with other circumstances, led to the release of young Asgill. Count de Vergennes to General Washington-Answer to the Same. my earnest solicitations in favor of a mother and family in tears. Her situation seems the more worthy of notice on our part, as it is to the humanity of a nation at war with her own, that she has recourse for what she ought to receive from the impartial justice of her own generals. I have the honor to enclose to your Excellency a copy of a letter which Lady Asgill has just written. I am not known to her, nor was I acquainted that her son was the unhappy victim destined by lot to expiate the odious crime that a formal denial of justice obliges you to avenge. Your Excellency will not read this letter without being extremely affected; it had that effect upon the King and Queen, to whom I communicated it. The goodness of their Majesties' hearts induces them to desire that the inquietudes of an unfortunate mother may be calmed, and her tenderness reassured. I felt, sir, that there are cases where humanity exacts the most extreme rigor--perhaps the one now in question may be of the number-but allowing reprisals to be just, it is not less horrid to those who are the victims; and the character of your Excellency is too well known for me not to be persuaded that you desire nothing more than to be able to avoid the disagreeable necessity. There is one consideration, sir, which, though it is not decisive, may have an influence on your resolution. Captain Asgill is doubtless your prisoner; but he is among those whom the arms of the King contributed to put into your hands at Yorktown. Although this circumstance does not operate as a safeguard, it justifies the interest I permit myself to take in this affair. If it is in your power, sir, to consider and have regard to it, you will do what is agreeable to their Majesties; the danger of young Asgill, the tears, the despair of his mother, affect them sensibly; S. T. Coleridge to Joseph Cottle-Description of Miss Wordsworth. and they will see with pleasure the hope of consolation shine out for those unfortunate people. In seeking to deliver Mr. Asgill from the fate which threatens him, I am far from engaging you to secure another victim; the pardon to be perfectly satisfactory must be entire. I do not imagine it can be productive of any bad consequences. If the English General has not been able to punish the horrible crime you complain of, in so exemplary a manner as he should, there is reason to think he will take the most efficacious measure to prevent the like in future. I sincerely wish, sir, that my intercession may meet success ; the sentiment which dictates it, and which you have not ceased to manifest on every occasion, assures me that you will not be indifferent to the prayers and the tears of a family which has recourse to your clemency through me. It is rendering homage to your virtue to implore it. I have the honor to be, with the most perfect consideration, sir, Yours, etc., DE VERGENNES. XLI.-DESCRIPTON OF MISS WORDSWORTH. S. T. Coleridge to Joseph Cottle. Sroway, 1797. MY DEAR COTTLE: Wordsworth and his exquisite sister are with me. She is a woman indeed! in mind I mean, and heart; for her person is such, that if you expected to see a pretty woman, you would think her rather ordinary; if you expected to see an ordinary woman, you would think her rather pretty; but her manners are simple, ardent, impressive. In every motion her innocent soul outbeams so brightly, that who saw, would say, "Guilt was a thing impossible in her." Robert Southey to Bertha, Kate, and Isabel Southey-Mode of making a Doctor of Law. Her information various. Her eye watchful in minutest observation of nature; and her taste a perfect electrometer. It bends, protrudes, and draws in at subtlest beauties and most recondite faults. She and W. desire their kindest respects to you. S. T. C. XLII.-MODE OF MAKING A DOCTOR OF LAW. Robert Southey to Bertha, Kate, and Isabel Southey. June 26th, 1820. Bertha, Kate, and Isabel, you have been very good girls, and have written me very nice letters, with which I was much pleased. This is the last letter which I can write in return; and as I happen to have a quiet hour to myself, here at Streatham, on Monday noon, I will employ that hour in relating to you the whole history and manner of my being ell-ell-deed at Oxford by the Vice-Chancellor. You must know, then, that because I had written a great many good books, and more especially the Life of Wesley, it was made known to me by the Vice-Chancellor, through Mr. Heber, that the University of Oxford were desirous of showing me the only mark of honor in their power to bestow, which was that of making me an LL.D.-that is to say, a doctor of law. Now you are to know that some persons are ell-ell-deed every year at Oxford, at the great annual meeting, which is called the Commemoration. There are two reasons for this: first, that the University may do itself honor by bringing persons of distinction to receive the degree publicly as a mark of honor; and, second |