Museum Square Tel 01945 583817 Wisbech & Fenland Wisbech Cambs PE13 1ES Fax 01945 589050 Museum [email protected] Townshend Manuscript Collection Appendices 1 Townshend Manuscript Collection Appendices Contents Introduction to the Collection……………………………4 Who was Chauncy Hare Townshend? The origins and progress of his Autograph Collection An analysis of the original folders holding the documents Interesting items within the collection other than signatures References to Mesmerism The breadth & content of the collection Alphabetical listings…….…..……………………………10 Detailed listings, with descriptions, content and biographical notes A: Abernethy (1) onwards…………………………………….10 B: Baillie (9)……..……………………………………………...18 C: Calame (52)…………………………………………………63 D: Danby (98)………………………………………………….110 E: Eastlake (115)………………………………………………127 F: Faraday (124)……………………………………………….137 G: Gall (137)…………………………………………………....150 H:Hamann (153)……………………………………………….166 J: James II (170)………………………………………………..183 K: Karr (174)…………………………………………………….187 2 L: La Place (182)………………………………………………..195 M: Macaulay (211)…………………………………....................227 N: Napoleon (246)……………………………………………….262 O: Oehlenschläger (251)………………………………………..268 P: Paley (257)…………………………………………………….275 Q: Quillinan (281)………………………………………………...299 R: Réaumur (283)………………………………………………..301 S: St. Piérre (301)………………………………………………...320 T: Talma (331)…………………………………………………….350 V: Valpy (344)……………………………………………………..364 W: Walter (351)……………………………………………………371 Portfolio Seven Brief listing of contents Supplementary material With descriptions, content and biographical notes Puttick & Simpson letters Brief description of letters 3 Introduction INTRODUCTION TO THE AUTOGRAPH COLLECTION OF CHAUNCY HARE TOWNSHEND The word autograph in this collection means ‘hand writing’ and not, as it is commonly understood to mean, ‘signature’. Not all the documents are signed by those who wrote them but all are believed to be in the authenticated hand of the person whose name is attached to the document. The earliest document in the collection with a definite date was written in 1548 by the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. and the most recent collected by CHT himself, bearing in mind that he died in 1868, was by Michael Faraday in 1857. Henry Hare Townsend was probably the initiator of the collection (See VII.26) to which his son Chauncy added throughout his life. Chauncy Hare Townshend died in 1868 and left the collection to The Wisbech and Fenland Museum in his will. The Collection has since been added to during its time in the Museum. 1. Who was Chauncy Hare Townshend? He was many things: a poet, ordained clergyman, practitioner of Mesmerism, collector, traveller and possibly linguist (though this is not certain), dilettante, man of property, Victorian gentleman and socialite. He was born in 1798. His father, Henry Hare Townsend (of Downhills, Tottenham, Busbridge Hall, Goldaming and Walpole, Norfolk) died in 1827. His mother, Charlotte, the daughter of Sir James Lake of Edmonton, died 1831. Chauncy was educat:ed at Eton College and Trinity Hall, Cambridge. He completed his BA in 1821, and his MA in 1824: he obtained the Chancellor’s Medal for English with the poem Jerusalem in 1817. Although Chauncy took Holy Orders he was disabled by illness from active duties. He Published Poems in 1821 after encouragement from Robert Southey whom he met and visited at his home in Keswick. Sermons in Sonnets and other Poems was published 30 years later in 1851 and The Three Gates in 1859. His best known poem is the ballad Burning of the Amazon (1852). CHT often sent volumes of his poetry as an introduction to persons he wished to know - and as a means of obtaining their signature for his collection. The poems made an easy way of establishing a relationship with someone especially if they too were a writer or an aspiring poet. He collected jewels, paintings and a variety of antiquities and had a growing interest in collecting autographs. He travelled widely and spent the latter part of his life at his villa Mon Loisir (my leisure) in Lausanne. In 1826 he married Eliza Norcott. They left no issue and were later separated and she lived with her sister, outlived Chauncy, and later died in an asylum. Other works include: 1823-24 Contributions to Knight’s “Quarterly Magazine”. 4 1840 A Descriptive Tour of Scotland 1840 Facts in Mesmerism 1844 2nd edition 1844 Supplement to Lang’s Animal Magnetism. 1854 Mesmerism Proved True. 1869 Religious Opinions published posthumously by Charles Dickens, his literary executor. A letter in the collection also shows that he wrote for the Literary Gazette, and was acquainted with its editor, William Jerdan: the collection contains many letters addressed to him. Chauncy died in London on 25 February, 1868. In his will of 1861 he left half of his collection to the Victoria & Albert Museum and half – including his autograph collection – to Wisbech Museum (now Wisbech & Fenland Museum). 2. The origins and development of his autograph collection Facts about his collection can only be gained from the collection itself and from the documents held in The Wisbech and Fenland Museum. Speculative conclusions after researching the Autograph collection are broadly as follows: 2.1 Chauncy’s father was a collector and employed the services of an auctioneer, J. Weller (see portfolio VII.26) 2.2 Chauncy inherited his father’s collection in 1827 2.3 In 1820, while still an undergraduate at Trinity College, and having made the acquaintance of Southey, he gave his autograph to E. D. Clarke (1769-1822 see portfolio III.14), traveller, antiquarian and mineralogist, who in turn sent him Byron’s signature. Twenty years after Clark’s death in1822, when his collections were auctioned, Chauncy bought his autograph collection (Including the letter of Thos. Gray (see former reference II.30) and probably other items. In 1847, Townshend employed the services of auctioneers himself (Puttick and Simpson) who acquired numerous signatures for him including those of most of his royal and historical personalities. 2.4 It seems that during the late summer months for many years Chauncy visited the Lake District and spent time with the Southey, Coleridge and Wordsworth families until the lingering death of the Poet Laureate from 1840 onwards, after which he spent frequent and longer periods on the Continent. 2.5 His collection shows that there he personally met and talked to many men and women of science, literature and the stage and was careful always to gather their autographs and those of well known acquaintances and connections. It was in Antwerp that he was first introduced to mesmerism and set up experiments to test its validity. He seems always to have returned to England in the Spring. 2.6 There are a lot of signatures in the collection taken from his personal correspondence of earlier years. When people who had once held no significance had become noteworthy they were then given folders within his autograph collection. An example is Hugh McNeile who in 1830 had written to Chauncy asking for a reference for a servant and was at that date an unknown clergyman. A folder was made for him in 1860 and marked in Chauncy’s hand with this information when he became Dean of Ripon. It would seem Chauncy kept and filed every letter he received - and there must have been thousands - even if only about a trivial matter. 5 McNeile would also have become known to Chauncy in later years as an outspoken opponent of Mesmerism 2.7 In the intervening years he casually collected important signatures as his social circle widened. He often wrote invitations to well known visitors to London to dine with him in order to obtain their signatures with their replies. His closest friends knew of his collection and people such as Charles Dickens passed on the signatures of their many famous acquaintances to Chauncy. 2.8 One often reads in this correspondence of people who ‘for many years have wished to make his acquaintance’. His reputation as a mesmerist had gone before him. Contrary to what might have been later assumed it was not John Elliotson who taught Chauncy the art of Mesmerism. The latter had well established his practice of mesmerism abroad long before he met Elliotson as a practitioner in England. However we find hints in his collection that in England too his motives for practising mesmerism were far from a kind of showmanship or desire for mounting displays of the miraculous, to entertain and amaze. Chauncy was always aware of his Christian vocation and that he had taken Holy Orders and, not able to minister within a congregation in the ordinary way, he attempted to use mesmerism to help distressed friends. See John Forster’s letter to him III.28 and Charles Collin’s letter in IV.14. Collins was a man who suffered greatly and died an early death. It is significant that in this letter he addresses Chauncy as ‘My Dear Physician’. 2.9 The number of letters addressed to Dr. John Elliotson in the collection suggest that the latter gave his correspondence to Chauncy, some years before he died . They both died in the same year. There are also several letters written by or addressed to the nonconformist preacher and hymn writer Philip Dodderidge which were probably bought at an auction of Dodderidge’s memorabilia. Two of the latter’s letters to his wife are remarkable for their expressions of humorous affection and tenderness. Another frequent recipient of letters in the collection was a William Wethered esq. from Kings Lynn who appears to have been an art dealer or collector. The Dictionary of National Biography throws no light on him. Either he was a friend of CHT or the latter bought up collection of his letters. This perhaps explains why the autographs of so many 19th century artists (approx 40) are included in his collection 2.10 Those in Wisbech and its surroundings who have known about the collection have made their own contributions to it over the years, notably the Hon.