Notes and Queries, Vol. IV, Number 92, August 2, 1851: A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men, Artists, Antiquaries, Genealogists, etc.Various
History
Notes and Queries, Vol. IV, Number 92, August 2, 1851: A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men, Artists, Antiquaries, Genealogists, etc.
Various
Questions and answers -- Periodicals
I do not know Miss Barber; her writings I have long admired; and having
been the means of drawing down upon her such an accusation, I am not
disposed to let the inquiry terminate here. Nor can I believe the Editor
of "NOTES AND QUERIES" will desire that either a literary error or a
groundless slander should descend to posterity in his pages.
L. H. K.
ERZA cannot entertain a higher respect than I do for the memory of Lady
Flora Hastings; but I am sure no member of her family would countenance
any attempt to exalt her reputation at the expense of another's; and I
fear ERZA, however unintentionally, has fallen into this error. The
stanzas she attributed to Lady Flora, as L. H. K. stated (Vol. iii., p.
522.), were published as Miss M. A. S. Barber's in _The Christian Lady's
Magazine_ for September, 1839, only two months after Lady Flora's death.
In the preceding number, as L. H. K. also correctly stated, is a brief
memoir of Lady Flora, in which it is said, that shortly before her death
she "delivered to her fond brother a little Bible, the gift of her
mother, requesting him to restore it to that beloved parent," &c. ERZA
may be unacquainted with that publication, but I can assure her that
Lady Flora's brother, my esteemed and lamented patron, was not; for
shortly after the number appeared, I found it lying on his table, in his
own private room at Donington Park, and, while waiting to see him,
partly read it there myself for the first time. I know not whether he
ever read the lines in question in the succeeding number, but I know the
_Magazine_ was regularly taken by some of Lady Flora's intimate friends,
and I cannot suppose they would allow any poem of hers to pass unnoticed
for twelve years, with the signature of Miss Barber attached to it.
Indeed the stanzas bear internal evidence of being written after Lady
Flora's death, and founded on the account given by _Charlotte Elizabeth_
in the preceding number. If, however, ERZA still persists in attributing
them to Lady Flora Hastings, she is in duty bound to give her authority,
and not bring such a heavy accusation against Miss Barber on the bare
assertion of an anonymous correspondent. If Miss Barber really composed
the stanzas, as I believe she did, she was doubtless actuated with a
desire to honour the memory and character of Lady Flora; and in such
case nothing could be more cruel and unjust than the conduct imputed to
her by ERZA. Unfortunately I do not know Miss Barber's address, or
whether she is still living; but if any of your readers do, I hope they
will name this case to her, or her friends, that her reputation may be
cleared from the imputation thus rashly cast on it. If the case cannot
thus be satisfactorily settled, I will obtain the desired information
from another quarter; but I hope ERZA will also offer the assistance in
her power towards this desirable object; and to set the example of
candour and openness, I will subscribe my real name.
W. HASTINGS KELKE.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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