Ireland -- History -- Rebellion of 1798; Women -- Ireland -- Biography
The letters paint the writer as a grave and somewhat reserved nature.
She feels that she has not her husband’s “gracious manner,” which
perhaps prevents her daughter-in-law judging of the strength of her love
for her. She is inclined by nature to melancholy. “Solitude has through
life stuck to me like an inner garment, and I find that it exceeds even
those of the children of Israel; it is a habit that instead of wearing
by time, grows stronger by constant use.” But she has the great anchors
of Faith and Charity. She feels her blessings with a grateful heart, and
wishes to discern and adore the healing hand which has been held out to
her in the midst of trials and distresses, and without which her natural
infirmities must have sunk under the scenes she has gone through. The
most persistent note in this correspondence is that of deep and true
religious feeling and, as we catch it, we seem to understand how it came
about that in the midst of the corrupt society which was that of
eighteenth century Dublin, this woman’s sons were kept chaste and
undefiled—Moore’s tribute to the unspotted youth of Robert comes back to
us, bringing with it unconscious tribute to the pure and exalting
influence of Robert’s mother.
The letters end in 1802, when Thomas Addis Emmet was released from Fort
George and awaited in Brussels certain developments which were to
determine his future movements. Here the news of his father’s death
reached him, and his own letter on that occasion to his mother, which I
have already quoted, brought forth one from her which, apart from its
intrinsic interest, must have ever borne in the eyes of her son a
priceless value, for when he received it, the hand that had penned it
was long mouldering into dust. It was addressed to the _Poste Restante_,
New York, and only reached its addressee on his arrival in that city in
November 11th, 1804.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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