Replies.
Reading edition
MRS. MACKEY'S POEMS.
(Vol. vi., p. 578.)
Mrs. Mary Mackey was "a real person," and the widow of a conveyancer in good practice. Of him she says (Scraps of Nature, p. 362.):
"The husband of poor Nature was a gentleman and an honest man, made a fortune and spent it nearly, in which his wife had no share, for that he governed and ruled the roast is well known to many: he had a noble and generous soul, but always kept poor Nature's talents under a bushel, where they shall never go again. He was old enough to be her father, and ever treated her like a child."
He left only enough to purchase for her a small annuity. She was uneducated, as she says, p. 274.:
"I never learned to write or spell, Although I read and write so well;"
but laboured under the illusion that she was a poetess. She sought an interview with Hewson Clarke by inviting him to meet a lady who admired his writings in White Conduit Fields. He went, and was somewhat mortified to find a matron of about forty-five, who placed her MS. in his hand, and requested his candid opinion on a future day. She was lady-like and sensible upon all matters except her own poems. Of course his opinion was easily formed; but he assured her that, though the poems were very good, they would not suit the public taste, and that she would be rash in publishing. She took his advice, but unfortunately happened to know Peter Pindar, who had been one of her husband's friends. She devotes a "scrap" to a kiss which he gave her (p. 215.). He was blind, but on hearing some of her poems read, he exclaimed, "Oh, my God, madam, there is nothing like this in Shakspeare!" Such a compliment turned her head; she sold her annuity to publish her book, and was reduced to extreme distress and misery. This is stated in a notice of the book in The British Stage, Sept. 1817, p. 210. The article, which is signed K., was written by the editor, Mr. Jones Broughton of the India House, a friend of Hewson Clarke, and once editor of The Theatrical Inquisitor.
I agree with G. C. that the "scraps" are niaiseries; as literature nothing can be worse; but they are curious and, I think, deeply interesting as genuine expressions of feeling. Mary Mackey was vain and weak, but true-hearted, generous, and affectionate; she conceals nothing, and lays bare her poverty and her wish to marry again. She advertises herself under the form of a pony for sale:
"For since she has been free by the death of her Late owner, the poor thing has been a scamperer, And has often known the want of a good meal; For she was highly fed in her old master's lifetime. But he, alas! sleeps in peace, and peace be to his soul. He was a good master and a real gentleman, And left his little trotter to a merciless world: She is gentle by Nature; but the poor thing's heart Is now breaking; yet by kind treatment she might Be made one of the most valuable and amusing Things in Nature. She is a little foundered, but not to hurt Or retard her movements; she is of some mettle and High spirit, notwithstanding her hard fate, She will even kick if roughly handled, Nor would she suffer a dirty hand to touch her."—P. 105.
Again, she says:
"I wish I had an only friend, To shield me from the winter's blast, For should I live to see another, He may cut keener than the last; And I shall never wish to feel A keener winter than the past."—P. 288.
She complains of a refusal from one to whom she wrote "to beg or solicit some bacon," and says:
"To him she has given, she never did lend, For her plan is to give to the foe or the friend."—P. 180.
Some one, probably Clarke, wrote an anonymous letter to dissuade her from publishing. This she answers indignantly in prose, concluding:
"Should he be tempted to write again, let him sign his name, or where a letter may find the kind-hearted creature, who has such a love for Nature. His stinging advice was to run down the widow's soul's delight, her dear scraps, which not a block in Nature can suppress"—P. 366.
Throughout the silliness run veins of feeling, respect for her husband, gratitude for the smallest acts of kindness, and cheerfulness under want. In some lines to a cat, apparently written during her husband's sickness, she says:
"Now Grimalkin each day on her throne takes a seat, With a smile on her face when her master can eat; But, alas! he eats little."—P. 309.
Truly Mary Mackey must have been a good wife and friend, and I hope I may claim some credit for extracting evidence thereof from perhaps the weakest verses ever written. Her own opinion was different, and is thus expressed in her
"Preface or no Preface.—No preface can be to the Scraps of Nature, for God gave none when He formed creation, nor was there ever a book sent into the world like the volume of Nature, since the creation of the world, nor ever so bold an undertaking. It has never been seen by any eye, nor corrected by any hand, but the eye and hand of the writer. No volume has more humour," &c.
G. C.'s copy is defective. Mine has a portrait of Mrs. Mary Mackey, which indicates considerable beauty, despite of very poor drawing and engraving, and the execrable thin curls and short waist of 1809. The "falling tear is visible;" but, had not the authoress told us what it was, it might be taken for a mole or a wart. As the face is perfectly cheerful, and the "scrap" is headed "Compliment to the Engraver," I hazard the conjecture that he was instructed to add the tear to a miniature painted before she had been compelled to shed tears on her own account.
H. B. C.
U. U. Club.
MAP OF CEYLON.
(Vol. vii., p. 65.)
Your correspondent Ajax asks information of me as to the best, or even a tolerable, map of Ceylon. I am not surprised at the inquiry, as no satisfactory map of that island exists to my knowledge. It may illustrate this assertion to mention, that in 1849 I travelled through the vast and interesting district of Neura Kalawa, to the north of the Kandyan range; and I carried with me the map of "India and Ceylon," then published, and since reprinted in 1852, by the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge. In that map the country I was passing through appears as a large blank, with the words "Unknown mountainous region." But I found it abounding in prosperous villages, and tracts of land cultivated both for rice and dry grain. So far from being "unknown," its forests have a numerous though scattered population; and as to its being "mountainous," there is scarcely a hill in the entire "region." There is a meagre map of Ceylon, drawn by George Atkinson, who was civil engineer and surveyor-general of the colony, and published by Wylde in 1836. It is more correct than others, but sadly deficient in information.
Mr. Arrowsmith, of Soho Square, published in 1845 an admirable map of what is called the Kandy Zone, being the central province of the island, prepared by the Deputy Quarter-Master-General, Colonel Frazer; assisted by Captain Gallwey and Major Skinner, of the Ceylon Civil Service. Col. Frazer has since placed in Mr. Arrowsmith's hands a map of the entire island: it has not yet appeared; but when published it will be found to be as nearly perfect in its details as any map can be.
In reply to the inquiry of Ajax as to the publication of my own work on the history and topography of Ceylon, it is still in hand; but the pressure of official and parliamentary duties has sadly retarded its preparation for the press.
J. Emerson Tennent.
66. Warwick Square, Belgravia.