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THE RT. HON. MARGARET WILLIAMS TO THE OFFICES OF DORCHESTER AND BINGHAM, LONDON
Dear Sirs,
I beg your pardon regarding the sudden nature of this correspondence, sent without proper introduction or go-between. I felt, however, that the urgency of the situation demanded swift action.
I was recently made aware through an acquaintance that you are in possession of a collection of letters from my daughter, the Viscountess Sarah Bolingbroke, to a certain gentleman. (I hesitate to use the word “gentleman,” and if the employees of Dorchester and Bingham have read the letters in question, there should be no mystery as to why.) I was also recently made aware, to my great disappointment, that D&B plans to publish these letters for the general public.
Though the particulars of my station and sex have, thankfully, sheltered me from the most gauche of this world’s literary excesses, I am not so sheltered as to be unaware that salacious correspondences, particularly those between proper young ladies and unscrupulous men, are a popular source of entertainment among the merchant and lower classes (and even, I am sad to see, among the peerage). D&B, being an institution that traffics in the sale of popular entertainment, must surely follow these trends and publish that which is likely to be financially beneficial, and though I am loathe to admit it, I can see how these letters would seem to be a valuable acquisition in that regard.
I urge you, then, to reconsider publication on the following grounds.
First, you must surely know of my daughter’s sad fate, and of the rumors of her state of mind during the period in which these letters were written. While I will not confirm or deny the details of those rumors, I will go so far as to say that the Viscountess was, shall we say, unwell for quite some time. These letters reflect the workings of a mind much burdened by fevers of both soul and body. My own perspective as her mother is naturally different from the general D&B readership, but reading her impassioned words I feel nothing but pity for the hysteria that so consumed her during this time. Surely your readers will have heard the rumors as well? Surely they will look askance at D&B for seeking to profit from the illness of a young woman who was, until that time, a devoted wife, a dutiful daughter, and a faithful servant of God?
Second, I appeal to you as fathers of daughters who, I am sure, are also faithful servants of God, and for whom I am sure you desire only good marriages and quiet lives of devotion and domestic tranquility. I pray that you and your wives never suffer what I suffered during my daughter’s long illness, but should a similar malady befall your own children, I hope that you would also do everything in your power to protect them from becoming a public spectacle.
Finally, I hesitate to write the following lines, for I abhor such direct confrontation, but surely you are aware of the numerous official and financial influences of not only the Williams Barony but also those of the Bolingbroke estate. Such titles and influence of course carry great responsibility and should never be wielded indiscriminately. The fact that I even mention them here must surely enlighten you as to the desperate circumstances I find myself in.
I am sympathetic to the conundrum of a business being asked to forego a profitable business opportunity, but I again implore you to reconsider. May God have mercy on your souls, even if He has long since forsaken my daughter’s.
Yours respectfully,
The Rt. Hon. Margaret Williams