How to Create the Perfect Wife (49 page)

40
   
Richard Davenport, who had placed:
Broome, pp. 22–23; Howitt, p. 514. A letter describing the effects on Davies, from his son Edward Davies Davenport to his grandson, Arthur Henry Davenport, July 7, 1838, is given in Rousseau (1965–2012), vol. 33, pp. 272–75.

40
   
Rather more successfully, Emily Kildare:
Emily Kildare’s experimental school is described in Tillyard, Stella,
Aristocrats: Caroline, Emily, Louisa and Sarah Lennox 1752–1832
(London, 1994), pp. 244–46.

40
   
Edgeworth devoured
Émile: Edgeworth, RL and M, vol. 1, pp. 172–73.

41
   
Dick had been pampered and indulged:
Edgeworth, FA, p. 37.

42
   
Having been dressed in petticoats:
The experiment on Dick is described in Edgeworth, RL and M, vol. 1, pp. 177–180, and the subsequent quotes from RLE are from these pages.

43
   
“the plague of childhood”:
Rousseau (2010), p. 253.

43
   
Only if Dick himself picked up a book:
Edgeworth, RL and M, vol. 1, p. 221. Day was echoing Rousseau’s advice. In
Émile,
he wrote: “I am almost certain that Emile will know how to read and write perfectly before the age of ten, precisely because it makes very little difference to me that he knows how before fifteen.” Rousseau (2010), p. 254.

43
   
“a Waggon drawn by Fire”:
ED to Josiah Wedgwood, June 14, 1768, in King-Hele (2007), pp. 87–88.

43
   
winning a silver medal:
Clarke, p. 52.

44
   “I
cannot believe that you took the book”:
JJR to Philibert Cramer, October 13, 1764, in Rousseau (1965–2012), vol. 21, pp. 248–49.

45
   
The educational program had been progressing:
RLE states that he and Day left for Ireland in “spring 1768.”

45
   
Anna Maria, who had given birth to a daughter, baptized Maria:
Maria’s date of birth has been contentious. It has variously been given as January 1, 1767, and January 1, 1768; the latter is correct. She states categorically in a letter written on January 1, 1819: “This is my 51st birthday.” See Edgeworth, Maria, p. 153. The Black Bourton parish register states that she was baptized Mary on October 31, 1768.

45
   
Eager to provide some light entertainment:
Edgeworth, RL and M, vol. 1, pp. 188–92. The play, by George Farquhar, was first staged in 1707.

47
   
Rousseau had recognized as he wrote
Émile: Rousseau (2010), pp. 499 and 531.

47
   
In the quest to find Sophie:
Rousseau (2010), p. 529.

47
   
“Let us give Émile his Sophie”:
Rousseau (1960), p. 152. The Bloom version gives this as: “Let us render his Sophie to our Emile. Let us resuscitate this lovable girl.” Rousseau (2010), p. 587.

48
   
Rousseau has no hesitation in asserting:
Rousseau (2010), p. 531.

48
   
“the time will come when she will be her own doll”:
Rousseau (1960), p. 137.

48
   
“almost all little girls learn to read and write with repugnance”:
Rousseau (2010), p. 543.

48
   
“From this habitual constraint”:
Rousseau (2010), p. 546.

48
   
The poet and socialite Frances Greville praised
Émile: Lady Caroline Holland to Emily, Duchess of Leinster, December 7, 1762, in Emily, Duchess of Leinster,
Correspondence of Emily, Duchess of Leinster (1731–1814),
ed. Fitzgerald, Brian (Dublin, 1949), vol. 1, p. 353.

48
   
Mary Wollstonecraft would later condemn:
Wollstonecraft, pp. 56–57.

49
   
“I have been disappointed in a Manner”:
TD to JB, n.d. (c. September–October 1768), Essex RO, D/DBa C10.

51
   
Back in London, Day moved into lodgings:
Edgeworth states that Day and Bicknell lodged together “in town.” Edgeworth, RL and M, vol. 1, p. 204.

51
   
Day might well have accompanied Edgeworth:
Edgeworth, RL and M, vol. 1, pp. 202–4.

52
   
“such a society, as few men have had the good fortune to live with”:
Edgeworth, RL and M, vol. l, pp. 180–81.

53
   
a comfortable income of £1,200 a year:
Seward (1804), p. 18.

54
   
Built as a country branch of the Foundling Hospital:
Ionides, Julia,
Thomas Farnolls Pritchard of Shrewsbury: Architect and “Inventor of Cast Iron Bridges”
(Ludlow, 1999); Oldham, J. Basil,
A History of Shrewsbury School 1552–1952
(Oxford, 1952), pp. 135–39. The £16,960 cost of the building, given in Ionides, would today equal nearly £3m ($4.8 million). The iron bridge over the Severn at Coalbrookdale, the first iron bridge in the world, was designed by Pritchard in 1775 but not built until 1777–79 after his death. The former orphanage is now part of Shrewsbury School and largely intact. My thanks to Mike Mo-rogh of Shrewsbury School for a guided tour of the building.

55
   
At its peak, in 1766, the Shrewsbury orphanage:
The daily routine at Shrewsbury is described in Regulations for the Government of the Orphan Hospital at Shrewsbury, FHA: A/FH/M01/13. Figures for the number of children in August 1769 are given in State of the Orphan Hospital (Shrewsbury), FHA: A/FH/D2/15/1. There were 58 boys and 299 girls in August. Instructions to send 100 boys to Ackworth were given in Shrewsbury Letter Book 4, 21 June 1768, FHA: A/FH/D/5/4.

55
   
“girls will be harder to be placed out”:
London Letter Book 4, August 31, 1769, FHA: A/FH/A/6/2/2.

55
   
Earlier in 1769, the governors had prosecuted:
Shrewsbury Letter Book 4, 2 Jan 1767, FHA: A/FH/D/5/4. The court case is described in London Letter Book 4, 11 Feb 1769, FHA: A/FH/A/6/2/2. In August 1769, two girls, aged 13 and 17, ran back to the orphanage from their apprenticeships in a factory making wood saws near Burton upon Trent, because the owner had beaten them if they refused to come to his bed.

56
   
As he walked up and down the parade:
Edgeworth, RL and M, vol. 1, p. 209. Seward (1804), p. 36. Edgeworth says Day chose Sabrina “from among a number of orphans.” Seward states that Day and Bicknell chose both girls from “a little train” at Shrewsbury although Lucretia was in fact selected in London. ME states that it was Bicknell who originally chose Sabrina, Edgeworth, RL and M, vol. 2, p. 110. The visit must have taken place between June 22, when Day turned 21, and June 30, when the Shrewsbury Committee ratified the apprenticeship.

56
   
“chestnut tresses” and dark eyes “expressive of sweetness”:
Seward, p. 26; Edgeworth, RL and M, vol.1, p. 213.

57
   
A few days later, on June 30:
Shrewsbury Committee Minutes, June 30, 1769, FHA: A/FH/D2/1. Apprenticeship indenture for Ann Kingston, August 17, 1769, FHA: A/FH/A/12/4/60/1.

58
   
The following day, the London office:
Thomas Collingwood to Samuel Magee, October 5, 1769, correspondence, FHA: A/FH/D2/3/16; SM to TC, October 9, 1769, Shrewsbury Letter Book 4, FHA: A/FH/D2/5/4.

CHAPTER 4: ANN AND DORCAS

60
   
“I had such well merited confidence”:
Edgeworth, RL and M, vol. 1, p. 210. RLE stated that Day placed Sabrina in lodgings near Chancery Lane.

60
   
Then even though he had flouted:
Minutes of FH General Committee, 1769–70, FHA: X041/17; lists of governors 1784 and 1786, FHA: A/FH/A/2/1/2 and A/FH/A/2/1/4.

61
   
Thomas Day was not the first to dream of:
Ovid, “Pygmalion,” in
Metamorphoses,
trans. Melville, A. D., ed. Kenney, E.J. (Oxford, 2008), pp. 232–34. Fascination with the Pygmalion myth and its influence on other works are discussed in Hersey; Stoichita; and Sheriff.

61
   
With its simple but timeless theme:
Works reputed to have been inspired by the Pygmalion myth include Shakespeare’s
The Winter’s Tale,
the Willy Russell play and later film
Educating Rita,
Alfred Hitchcock’s film
Vertigo,
“The Galatea Affair” in the television series
The Man from UNCLE
and the sci-fi novel by Richard Powers,
Galatea 2.2.
See Stoichita for a fascinating discussion.

61
   
Probably the best-known and best-loved version:
There is no direct evidence that Shaw knew of Day’s story although it was certainly well known when he wrote
Pygmalion
and there are many parallels in his text. He may well have absorbed details from Anthony Trollope’s novel,
Orley Farm,
published in 1862. The quotes are from pp. 32, 30 and 65.

62
   
In 1762, he composed a poetic drama:
JJR,
Pygmalion, A Poem
(Eng. trans., London, 1779); Damrosch, p. 462. Rousseau first staged his play in Lyon, in spring 1770, in collaboration with a friend, Horace Coignet, who wrote the music.

63
   
Founded in 1741, the Foundling Hospital:
Chief sources for the history of the Foundling Hospital and the biography of Thomas Coram are anon,
An Account of the Foundling Hospital
(1826); Wray and Nicholls; Pugh; Levene (2007); McClure; Clark; Allin. Allin provides comprehensive information on the early years and the General Reception; McClure is extremely helpful on Coram’s life and the early history of the charity. Other general information is gleaned from the Foundling Hospital archives and the Foundling Hospital Museum.

63
   
the sight of abandoned babies:
McClure, p. 19.

64
   
“the Expressions of Grief”:
Pugh, p. 39.

64
   
few children were ever reunited:
It has been estimated that 1.2 percent of babies were reclaimed between 1741 and 1799. Levene (2007), p. 18.

64
   
Carefully stored under lock and key, the billet forms:
Clark, p. xxxii; exhibit in FH Museum; FHA: Billet Books. Some women left poems with their abandoned babies. One began: “Pity the Offspring of a Youthful Pair, / Whom folly taught, and Pleasure did Ensnare.” Another reads: “Here I am brought without a name / Im’ sent to hide my mothers’ shame, / I hope youll say, Im’ not to Blame, / Itt seems my mothers’ twenty five / and mattrymonys Laid a side.” Both poems are quoted in Wray, p. 121. Many mothers left plaintive instructions as to how they wished their child to be named or brought up. One note, attached to a tiny gold hoop, begged, “pleas to continue the yearring in the right year”—Billet Book, no 10,416, FHA: A/FH/A/9/1/117—while another asked “please to call her Molly Collins not Marey.” Levene (2006), pp. 133. Both directions were, of course, ignored.