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By Sharpe, Charles
Kirkpatrick, Allardyce, Alexander, Bedford, W. K. Riland (William
Kirkpatrick Riland) (1888) in two volumes.
PREFACE
The correspondence contained
in these two volumes has been selected from a very large mass of papers, now
the property of the Rev. W. K. R. Bedford, Sutton Coldfield, the nephew and
literary executor of Charles Kirkpatrick Sharpe. The materials of which the
present work is made up consist of autograph letters of Mr Sharpe to his
mother and other members of his family; of rough drafts of letters in his
own handwriting ; of various fragmentary memoranda, also autograph ; and of
letters to Mr Sharpe, almost all in the originals. In addition to these, a
note-book of Mr Sharpe, into which he had copied his more important
correspondence from 1810 to 1815, with a few entries of a later date, has
furnished a number of the most complete and interesting letters in both
volumes.
Mr Sharpe’s correspondence naturally divides itself into two parts: the
letters connected with his residence at Oxford, and with the friendships
which he had formed there; and those belonging to his Edinburgh life, when
he had in a great measure retired from society and devoted himself to
literary, artistic, and antiquarian pursuits. The former collection is by
far the more bulky and important, and a larger space has been assigned to
the letters which represent it than chronological symmetry would otherwise
have suggested. The letters addressed to Mr Sharpe by his Oxford friends are
also of more consequence than those of the correspondents of his later
years, which are, in the majority of instances, briefer notes, thanking him
for antiquarian or artistic favours, or soliciting the assistance of his
experience or taste. Several hundreds of letters, from David Laing, Robert
Chambers, Thomas Thomson, W. B. D. D. Turnbull, and other gentlemen engaged
in historical and antiquarian work, have been examined and passed over with
the exception of a few illustrative specimens. Without Mr Sharpe’s replies,
which, however, generally found their way to the public indirectly through
the works on which his correspondents were engaged, it would have served no
object to print these letters beyond showing to how great an extent his
attainments were drawn upon, and how liberally his stores were opened to his
friends.
When the first volume had passed through the press, and the second had been
already arranged for the printer, Mr Bedford was successful in obtaining,
through the kindness of some friends whose interest had been excited in the
work, a number of additional letters, which now appear in the second volume.
This acquisition was of all the more importance, because, in the
correspondence originally put into my hands, the later years of Mr Sharpe’s
life were very inadequately represented by letters from himself. The use to
which Mr Sharpe’s letters were put by Lady Charlotte Bury, as explained by
Mr Bedford in his Memoir, caused Mr Sharpe to be more guarded in his general
correspondence; and it is fortunate that the most recently recovered letters
were addressed to friends to whom he could reveal himself in his own playful
and natural character.
In the selection and arrangement of the letters, very considerable
difficulties had to be encountered. By far the greater number were undated,
and many presented no references by which the dates might be accurately
fixed. Not a few had found their way into covers evidently belonging to
other letters, thereby increasing a confusion already chaotic. By exercising
considerable pains, it is believed that the exact dates, or at least the
closest approximation to them, have been fixed upon.
It may be necessary to explain why so large a number of letters to Mr Sharpe
has been included in the present volumes. Not only did it seem that these
letters were of service as the best illustrations of Mr Sharpe’s own
letters, but that they added not less than those did to our knowledge of
him. Living as he did so much in isolation, Mr Sharpe’s biography is written
in his correspondence, and the interest of most of the letters addressed to
him supersedes any need of an apology.
A great deal has been said of the licence which Charles Kirkpatrick Sharpe
allowed himself in writing, of a weakness for scandal, and of a fondness for
employing expressions which refinement had rendered obsolete even in his
day. His own letters, written to his intimates, and never intended for
publication, will
show how far these allegations go. They are printed as he wrote them; in
very few instances has it been found necessary to omit passages; and where
suppression has been deemed expedient, it has been fully as often in the
letters of his correspondents as in his own. When allowance is made for Mr
Sharpe’s affectation of archaism, the correspondence is neither better nor
worse in tone than the epistolce familiares of men of wit and of the world
during his day.
The number of letters which it was desirable to compress into two volumes
has not admitted of very full annotation, especially in the more recent
letters, but notes have been given where it seemed that the interests of the
reader required them. For many of these notes I have been indebted to Mr
Bedford, who has also read the proof - sheets, and solved many difficulties
which must otherwise have been insurmountable.
Throughout the progress of the work Mr Bedford and I have met with most
prompt and ready response to all the applications we have made to those into
whose hands the fragments of Charles Sharpe’s writings and sketches had
found their way. From the Abbotsford collection downwards, there has been a
general consensus on the part of possessors of his works to assist, as far
as possible, in placing his reputation on a basis of such security as the
present publication can establish.
ALEXANDER ALLARDYCE
Edinburgh, Oct. 1888.
Volume 1 |
Volume 2 |
