Homepage

Record

Browse this collectionThis entry describes an individual archive record or file. Click here to browse the full catalogue for this collection
Archive Reference / Library Class No.D8760/F/FEP/1/3/1
Former ReferenceD3311/28/3
TitleLetter from Sarah Henrietta Kay to her sister Eleanor Anne Porden, concerning criticism of one of her poems on the grounds of indeliccay of its subject matter
Date4 Nov 1811
DescriptionExplains her objection to a piece of text relating to a sexual aspect of botany.  Makes a link to the purity of the mind and potential indelicacy of the subject matter
Extent1 sheet
LevelItem
RepositoryDerbyshire Record Office
SenderSarah Henrietta Kay
Sender LocationBedford Street
RecipientEleanor Anne Porden
Recipient LocationNo address
Archive CreatorEleanor Anne Porden, later Eleanor Franklin (1795-1825)
Gell family of Hopton Hall, Wirksworth
Related MaterialFor draft response by Eleanor to her sister's letter seed D8760/F/FEP/3/3/1
Transcript or Index Bedford Street
Nov.r 4. 1811
My dear Eleanor.
I have been intending for some
days to answer your Letter but my present si-
tuition with respect to my little darling has so
unhinged my mind, that I have not ^been^ nor do I now,
feel equal to enter upon it so fully as I could wish,
but as you are in haste, I may perhaps be able
to say enough to assist you __ My objection
to the passage in question in your 3.d Canto
arose from your having, (in my mind) entered
rather too minutely into that part of Botany
which relates to the sexual system. You might
have detailed much more of the science itself
without having made any allusions of the kind,
and which I think would have been more consistent
with public reading in a mixed society, the majority
of whom are young, and also with the delicacy of
the Authoress who will one day be announced.
I am pleased with the candour & freedom of your letter

and shall use the same myself, without fearing
to hurt you in any way. You are perfectly just
in your observations, ^respecting the Lecturers but [c/o] I have heard it observed
that perhaps scarcely any other man than Dr. Smith
could have entered into the science so much, ^&^ so tho-
-roughly, as he did, ^&^ with so much delicacy, so as not
to make it unpleasant to a mixed auditory; and
even he, was sometimes at fault, & embarrassed.
The error, with respect to yourself, my dear
Eleanor, arises from, what all who know you
intimately, prize as one of your chief orna-
=ments; I mean, the purity of your mind &
thoughts. I feel it an awkward subject to
write upon explicitly myself, but I think
you cannot be so totally ignorant of ^the^ intercourse
that must subsist between the sexes, not to feel
that all such allusions must carry an appearance
of indelicacy, and in my mind that is much
heightened when connected with inanimate things

as plants may in some degree be considered.
I have just thrown a few ideas together
as they have occurred to me and am sorry
I am prevented entering more into the subject
but, I may perhaps resume it, if you
are not satisfied, as you say you shall
require weighty arguments. I don’t care
for your Lark Hall laugh!
Ever your affect.te sister
Sarah Henrietta Kay.
Add to My Items
    Sir John Franklin (1786-1847), naval officer and arctic explorer

    Sir John Franklin (1786-1847), naval officer and arctic explorer

    Useful Links

    See more Collection highlights

    Bryan Donkin Company Ltd of Chesterfield, engineering firm
    Bryan Donkin Company Ltd of Chesterfield, engineering firm
    Local Studies Periodicals
    Local Studies Periodicals
    Sir John Franklin (1786-1847), naval officer and arctic explorer
    Sir John Franklin (1786-1847), naval officer and arctic explorer
    Harpur Crewe family of Calke
    Harpur Crewe family of Calke
    Collection Highlights