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Mary Maria Colling

From Bray (1884):

...(by his advice) those letters afterwards formed the introduction to her fables and poems, which were edited by myself. I adjoin here a part of one of these letters:

TO MRS. BRAY

Keswick, 26th March 1831

MY DEAR MADAM

Mary Colling is in your account one of the most interesting person I ever heard of; before I came to the end of your letter, it occurred to me that there could not be a better introduction to a volume of her poems, than that letter itself. So you see Mr. Bray's thought and mine have once more run in the same channel. Do me the favour to take charge of a copy of "Madoc" for her, which I will desire Messrs. Longmans people to send with the other books. The "Vindiciae" and the "Colloquies" (if the second edition of them is ready) will come to you from Murray's . . .

I am too busy now to say more; for like you, much of what I get through is done in fragments of time, the shreds and parings which none who know the value and feel the want of time, will allow to be wasted.

Farewell, dear Madam, and believe me always yours with sincere regard,

ROBERT SOUTHEY

From Colling (1831)

TO ROBERT SOUTHEY, ESQ.
&c. &c.

Vicarage, Tavistock, June 22, 1831

MY DEAR SIR,

SINCE I had last the pleasure of writing to Keswick, Mary Colling has placed in my hands nearly the whole of her fables and other pieces. I have this week been busied in arranging them for the press. One or two of her poems ("May Showers," for instance, which you saw in its original and rude shape) I had some thoughts of rejecting from the volume altogether. But on reading it over with my husband and my nephew, who is with us, it struck us, that however faulty it might be as a composition, and containing may repetitions, nevertheless there was in it some lines not wanting in merit. We determined, therefore, to advise her to omit certain verses that repeated the same ideas, and to change the position of others. To this she readily consented; and the same plan has been pursued in one of two other pieces. The lines on the "Death of an Infant" have undergone some alteration; and a word or a correction have occasionally been suggested. I mention this, in order that by making know to you what has been done for her (and it is very slight), she may not lose any part of that credit due to herself alone, by the supposition of her having had more assistance than is really the case.

When Mary Colling wrote the following fable, one would think - thought they are hardly applicable to person in humble life - that, nevertheless, she had in view the well-known lines -

"Safe from the bar, the pulpit, and the throne,
Yet touched and moved by ridicule alone;"

inasmuch as she represented in it, with much playfulness, an actual occurrence, that had its rise in vanity and folly. Some servant girls had a holyday given them, and they might go in party to see their friends at Plymouth. They left Tavistock in their natural character; but on the road contrived to trick themselves out in some cast-off finery, and paraded Plymouth in the assume rank of ladies! They were met by a person who knew them, and who justly reproved their folly. Mary Colling heard the story, and it have occasion to her fable of

THE TURKIES AND THE GANDER

Three Turkies once, ambitious grown,
Went travelling where they were not known;
And each, in hopes to be admired,
His tail with peacock's plums attired.
While thus their journey they pursued,
Their borrow'd beauties oft they view'd;
But lo! by chance, to their regret,
They soon a neighbouring Gander met,
The latter, although much surprise,
His neighbours quickly recognised:
"My friends," said he, "how strange the sight,
Your tails are grown so fine since night!"
The Turkies each assumed an air:
One said, "You don't know who we are;
And 'tis beneath us, when we wander,
To claim acquaintance with a Gander."
The Gander answer'd, "Though you're cross,
And I am really at a loss
What names to call you, now you roam,
I'm sure you're Turkies when at home."

Every country town, perhaps, can boast of certain gossips and busy-bodies, who are fond of employing their time in idle talk, and meddling with the affairs of their neighbours. Tavistock is not deficient in sundry person of this description. One old woman, in particular, is very celebrated for this plague of the tongue. It appears she once managed to insinuate herself into the friendship, and in some degree to win the confidence of, Mary; and afterwards, without any cause of offence being given, very ill-naturedly said, "That for her part she thought Mary Colling knew so little of the world, and was so great a fool, she could get any thing out of her." Mary was fired with displeasure on hearing this, and gave vent to her feelings in the following lines...

The canary alluded to in this letter was a curiosity in natural history; as not only Mary Colling, but other person who head it, assure me it could talk: a peculiarity I mentioned in a former letter. The talking canary is since dead; and I am much inclined to believe Mary killed it with kindness, by giving it pieces of cake and sweet things whenever it would call out to her, as it often did, "Give us a bit," or "Pretty bird," &c.

            I have the honour to remain,
                    My dear Sir,
               Very truly and faithfully yours,

ANNA E. BRAY.

From Bray (1884):

It had been arranged that I was to endeavour to procure a publisher for Mary Colling's fables, and so on my next visit to London I saw Mr. Murray on the subject; but though he declined undertaking the work (having been disappointed, I believe, by the publication of John Jones, the old butler's poems, edited by Southey) he begged to have his name put down on the list, if, as he advised for Mary's benefit, the volume should be published by subscription. He thought Longmans house would be the most suitable. Accordingly I saw my ever kind friend Mr. Rees, who with his usual good-nature at once agreed to publish the work on commission. Before I left town, Messrs. Longmans presented Mary Colling, through my hands, with a very nice copy of Shakspere's plays.

Though my health was so severely afflicted, that I was scarcely ever well a week together, yet anxious to serve Mary Colling, I gave up a good deal of my time to her cause. I had a prospectus of the work printed on the first page of a sheet, so that on the other page I could write what I wished to say in her favour. In this way I sent forth more than sixty letters, and obtained as many subscribers for her work.

On the 22nd of October, 1831, it was published under the title: "Fables, and other Pieces in Verse; by Mary Maria Colling; with some account of the author in Letters to Robert Southey, Esq., Poet Laureate, by Mrs. Bray."

An interesting letter of Mr. Southey, containing highly valuable remarks
about Mary and her work, may be inserted.

TO MRS BRAY

Keswick, Feb 6, 1832

MY DEAR MRS. BRAY

Your letter, which would have been one of the pleasantest imaginable if it had brought a better account of your own health, arrived in good time; when certain proof-sheets were lying on my desk to be returned by that day's post. My reviewal of your book* was too late for insertion in the last "Quarterly"; Lockhart tells me it is to lead the way in the next, and I have transferred to it two passages from your letter, the one stating Mary's wise contentment with her present station, and the other that beautiful one which I thank Mr. Bray for desiring you to send me.

*That was the Introduction to Mary Colling's Fables.

Mary's history is given as much as possible in your words. There are then some remarks upon the uneducated poets (as they are called) of the present day, tending to show that in fact they have had great facilities for educating themselves in the art of verse, which was not John Jones's fortune, nor had it hitherto been Mary's. Then follows something which will divert you, concerning some true doggrelizers, and the conclusion relates to that improvement of the lower classes which might be looked for, if more intellectual and moral means of enjoyment were brought, as the easily might be, within their reach. Your good Mr. Hughes - whom you have made me know so well that I long to become acquainted with him, will cordially agree with me in my opinion upon the subject. You need not make any secret of my being the writer, for I never think of concealing such things.

The Duke of Bedford has done just what he ought, like a good man as he is, and I am very glad to hear this of him* . . .

*The Duke of Bedford, in a most kind letter addressed to myself, sent enclosed a ten-pound note for Mary Colling on reading the fables and my account of her.

You remember a man in one of Foot's farces who had been "talking prose all his life without knowing it." The reason why so many persons write ill, is that they think it necessary to write a style something different from the common speech; and Mary is likely to write good prose because she will write as she speaks; that is, she will express what she has to say, in the readiest words that present themselves, and those words in their natural order.

With kind regards to Mr. Bray

Believe me always

Yours very truly

ROBERT SOUTHEY

In January 1832 I commenced that work, the writing of which had been so strongly recommended to me by Mr. Southey. By the end of February it was so far advanced that I sent off the first packet, containing four letters, to Keswick. With great anxiety I awaited the next letter from Cumberland, knowing that it would contain wherewith to encourage me in my attempt, or to dishearten me altogether. Here it is:

TO MRS. BRAY

Keswick, 14th March, 1832

MY DEAR MRS. BRAY,

...My reason for not giving more direct praise to Mary Colling was, that direct praise would not have been likely to serve her book so well, and would have had more the appearance of coming from one whose immediate object was to serve her. It was better, therefore, to let the story recommend itself, and the extracts speak in their own praise, and to show (against a very prevalent opinion) that intellectual pursuits by persons in humble life ought to be encouraged for the general good. Upon this subject I have more to say in due time.

Give my good wishes to her, and my compliments to her master (who well deserves a compliment), and my kind regards to Mr. Bray,

And believe me always

Yours very truly

ROBERT SOUTHEY

In March this year came out the number of the "Quarterly Review", with Southey's review of Mary Colling's fables; in it he gave copious extracts, both from the poems and from the account I had given of her in my letters. Her little book sold well, for the first edition (500 copies) soon went off. I attempted to prevail upon her generous master, MR. Hughes,* to authorize the printing of a second edition, which, after the article in the "Quarterly Review," would have been certain to meet with a sale, more especially as the price of the volume was only seven shillings. But Mr. Hughes did not understand literary matters, and, satisfied with the success his protégé had already attained, he cared little about any further sale of her book; so that numbers who would afterwards have purchased it were disappointed. The work was out of print, and so it remains to this day, but I am informed the Americans have reprinted it.

*Mr. Hughes paid all the cost of the publication; but his outlay was repaid
by the sale; the remaining, not inconsiderable, profit fell to the sole
benefit of Mary Colling.

From Bray (1838):

TO ROBERT SOUTHEY, ESQ.

Vicarage, Tavistock, April 24th, 1832.

MR DEAR SIR

In collecting these anecdotes respecting the pixy race, I must acknowledge my obligations to Mary Colling, the amiable young woman whose little verses you so kindly noticed, and whose artless attempts have also been so favourably received by her friends and the public. Mary, to oblige me, chatted with the village gossips, or listened to their long stories; and the information thus gained was no small additionto my own stock of traditions and tales "of the olden time."

From Bray (1884):

I here give some of Mr. Southey's letters, which deserve for many reasons to be preserved:

TO MRS. BRAY

Keswick, 1 May 1832

MY DEAR MRS. BRAY

...The sovereign which comes under this cover is from a Danish gentleman at Copenhagen, to whom Mr. Warter (now chaplain to our ambassador there, and my son-in-law elect) lent his copy of the "Fables"; he was so delighted with Mary Colling that he sent back the book with a Danish bank-bill in it of ten rix-dollars, requesting that that sum might be conveyed to her: this is the amount of it in English money. This is quite as large a donation from a Dane as five pounds from an English nobleman,* and both show the same good feeling in the donors, and show also that what you have done has been as well done as it was well intended. Both circumstances have given me much pleasure, as they will you.

*This alludes to a gift for her from Lord Dunstanville

Concerning myself, you may tell Mary that I am not as tall as Mr. Bray, but quite as thin as you; and that is she were my daughter, the family likeness between us would be remarked, although I have a magnificent nose of such pretensions that I was not without apprehension of being challenged for it when I crossed Strasburg Bridge. My hair was once like a lion's mane; it is now white on the temples and grey everywhere else, but still think and curling as in youth. I am in my 58th year, much older in all the circumstances of life than that age usually imports, and perhaps as much younger in habits and in heart.

Present my kindest regards to Mr. Bray, and believe me always,

Yours very truly

ROBERT SOUTHEY

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