"SIR EDWARD SEAWARD'S NARRATIVE."
(Vol. v., p. 10.)
The following is a copy of a letter addressed by Miss Porter to a
relative of mine:--
"Esher, Jan. 30, 1832.
"Madam,--I hasten to express the pleasure with which I answer your
favour on the subject of Sir Edward Seaward's _Narrative_, to the
best indeed of my power, but, I regret to say, not as explicitly
as I wish. However, with respect to the authenticity of the
events, I have no reason to doubt them; the manner of the original
MSS. coming into my hands having been precisely what my Preface to
the work described.
"The same query that you have made has been put to me from various
quarters; and I have communicated most of them to the owner of the
MSS., but he invariably declines allowing me to give his name, or
other proofs of the facts in the _Narrative_, saying, that 'since
the public has done him the honour of putting his old heir-loom
into mystery, even in the face of the editor's simply told
Preface, he will not deprive himself of the amusement such
unexpected doubts afford him.'
"Thus far his whimsical decision; nevertheless, as editor of the
work, I cannot deny myself adding the sincere satisfaction I feel
in the sympathy so universally expressed with the virtues of the
truly amiable Seaward and his family; and the more so, as his
lessons of piety and domestic concord in the most trying
situations may well be considered his richest bequeathment.
"I have the honour to subscribe myself, Madam,
"Very much yours,
"JANE PORTER."
This corroborates the account given by W. W. E. J., and may be thought
worthy of a place in "N. & Q."