Charles Swain (1801-1874) Collection

Includes letters to Swain (among them an important series from Robert Southey), some of Swain's own manuscripts and many other letters acquired from various sources.

The collection can be divided into sections:

1. POEMS IN MANUSCRIPT

The collection contains manuscripts of 22 poems, some of them being addressed to William Jerdan, editor of the Literary Gazette, and intended for publication in that journal. They include such songs as 'Was the glass made for physic?', 'Gipsy glee', 'My life was like a fountain', 'Tripping down the field path', and a 'patriotic song' called 'The Leek', also more ponderous, serious poems such as 'War-suggested by Landseer's admirable painting thus entitled'.

2. LETTERS FROM ROBERT SOUTHEY

The most interesting part of the collection, however, is that compromising the twelve letters written to Swain, between the the years 1831-1838, by the poet Robert Southey

3. CHARLES DICKENS

Of the letters addressed to Charles Swain himself, the most noteworthy is one from Charles Dickens dated 20 July 1842, in which Dickens thanks Swain 'with unaffected cordiality' for his 'beautiful book'. Dickens continues: -

'I have read it with great pleasure, and have derived many interesting and instructive thoughts from its teeming pages.'

The letter, though merely a page in length, provides a fine example of Dickens's handwriting and distinctive signature.

4. OTHER LITERARY CONTEMPORARIES

Many lesser figures of the day also appear in Swain's correspondence. There are letters from the poets Thomas Kibble Hervey, John Westland Marston, Letitia Elizabeth Landon and Charles Mackay, and also from the writers Mary Russell Mitford, Martin Farwuhar Tupper, Camilla Dufour Toulmin, Mary Ann Brown, the two sisters Geraldine and Maria Jane Jewsbury, Robert Shelton Mackenzie, Charles Hardwicke, Samuel Carter Hall, and his wife Anna Maria Hall.

5. COVERS ADDRESSED TO GENERAL SIR JOHN FOX BURGOYNE

The remainder of the collection comprises a number of covers addressed to General Sir John Fox Burgoyne (1782-1871), engineer and soldier, and inspector-general of fortifications, who, in effect, was second-in-command of the English forces in the Crimean War. How Swain obtained these covers is a matter of conjecture-perhaps they were taken as souvenirs by one of Burgoyne's staff and subsequently acquired by Swain. The subject content is, of course, negligible, but the addresses and signatures provide specimens of handwriting of many notable figures of the day - the first Marquis of Anglesey, Sir Charles Wood (later Viscount Halifax), Lord Raglan (commander of the troops in the Crimea), the fifth Duke of Newcastle (secretary for war), Viscount Palmerston, Lord Panmure (Laters 11 Early of Dalhousie-secretary for war), Viscount Hardinge of Lahore (commander-in-chief), the second Earl of Harrowby (Statesman), Lord Seaton (general), Sir James Graham (first lord of the admiralty), the second Earl Granville (statesmen), the third Marquis of Lansdowne (statesman), together with a printed visiting card of Aali Pacha, Grand Vizier of Turkey.

For more about the collection see 'The Charles Swain Collection' by Michael Smith, Manchester Review (Autumn 1962) pp.323-332