Thomas Jefferson Papers

Maria Cosway to Thomas Jefferson, 15 July 1821

From Maria Cosway

London 15 July 1821

My dear & most esteem’d friend

The Appearance of this letter will inform you I have been left a widow. Poor Mr Cosway was Suddenly taken by an Apopletic fit—And being the third proved his last. at the time we had hopes he would enjoy a few years—for he never had been So well & So happy—the change of Air was recond necessary for his health; I took a very Charming house & fitted it up handsome & Comfortable, with those pictures & things he liked most—all my thoughts & actions were for him—He had neglected his affairs very much and when I was obliged to take them in my hands was astonished, I took every means to ammelliorate them & had Succeded, at least for his Comforts. And my Consolation was his constantly repeating how well & how happy he was. We had an Auction of all his effects & house, in Stratford place, which lasted two months, my fatigue has been excessive—the Sale did not produce as much as we expected, but enough to make him Comfortable & free from embarassement, as he might have been if I had not acted accordingly—every body thought he was very rich, & I was astonished when put to the real knowledge of his Situation.—He made his will two years Ago & left me Sole executrice & Mistress of every thing. After having Settled every thing here & provided for three Cusins of Mr C. I shall retire from this bustling & insignificant world, to My favorite College at Lodi, as I always intended, where I can employ myself So happily in doing good.—I wish Monticello was not So farr! I would pay you a visit if it was ever So Much out of my way, but it is impossible—

I long to hear from you—the remembrance of a person I so highly esteem & venerate, affords me the happiest Consolation & your Patriarcal Situation delights me—Such as I expected from you.—notwithstanding your indiference for a World you make one of the most distinguished members & ornament, I wish you may still enjoy many years & feel the happiness of a Nation which produces Such Caracters.

I will write again before I leave this Country at this Moment in So boisterous an occupation as you must be inform’d of—& I will Send you my direction, I shall pass thro’ Paris & taulk of you with Madme de Corny, believe me ever your most affte & obliged

Maria Cosway

P.S.

I hope you will forgive the liberty I take of enclosing a letter for my Brother as I think it will be the more Safely deliverd to him—

RC (MHi); addressed: “Thos Jefferson Esqre Washington”; with Daniel Brent’s signed notation of 14 Sept. 1821 above address: “Recd at the Dept of State enclosed in a Letter from mr Rush,—& forwarded by your respectful, obedt servt”; endorsed by TJ as received 19 Sept. 1821 and so recorded in SJL.

poor mr cosway: Richard Cosway died of a seizure on 4 July 1821 (ODNB description begins H. C. G. Matthew and Brian Harrison, eds., Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, 2004, 60 vols. description ends ). England was probably unusually boisterous as it prepared for the 19 July 1821 coronation of King George IV (ODNB description begins H. C. G. Matthew and Brian Harrison, eds., Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, 2004, 60 vols. description ends ; London Morning Post, 20 July 1821). On 26 Sept. 1821 TJ wrote George Hadfield (Maria Cosway’s brother) a letter, not found, recorded in SJL with the bracketed notation: “inclosg one from mrs Cosway.”

Index Entries

  • Brent, Daniel; forwards letters to and from TJ search
  • Corny, Marguérite Victoire de Palerne de; friendship with TJ search
  • Cosway, Maria Louisa Catherine Cecilia Hadfield (Richard Cosway’s wife); as educator search
  • Cosway, Maria Louisa Catherine Cecilia Hadfield (Richard Cosway’s wife); family of search
  • Cosway, Maria Louisa Catherine Cecilia Hadfield (Richard Cosway’s wife); friendship with TJ search
  • Cosway, Maria Louisa Catherine Cecilia Hadfield (Richard Cosway’s wife); letters from search
  • Cosway, Richard (Maria Cosway’s husband); death of search
  • Cosway, Richard (Maria Cosway’s husband); family of search
  • George IV, king of Great Britain; coronation of search
  • Hadfield, George (Maria Cosway’s brother); family of search
  • Hadfield, George (Maria Cosway’s brother); letters to accounted for search
  • health; apoplexy search
  • Rush, Richard; forwards letters to and from TJ search
  • women; letters from; M. Cosway search