Letter from Richard Davis Webb, Drimnaugh Cottage, Dublin, [Ireland], to Maria Weston Chapman, July 1, 1857

Item Information

Title:
Letter from Richard Davis Webb, Drimnaugh Cottage, Dublin, [Ireland], to Maria Weston Chapman, July 1, 1857
Author:
Webb, Richard Davis, 1805-1872
Addressee:
Chapman, Maria Weston, 1806-1885
Date:
July 1, 1857
Format:
Letters/Correspondence
Manuscripts
Location:
Boston Public Library
Rare Books Department
Collection (local):
Anti-Slavery Collection
Subjects:
Abolitionists--England
Antislavery movements--United States--History--19th century
Women abolitionists--Massachusetts--Boston--19th century--Correspondence
Abolitionists
Antislavery movements--United States
Women abolitionists--United States
Webb, Richard Davis, 1805-1872
Pillsbury, Parker, 1809-1898
Chapman, Maria Weston, 1806-1885
Places:
Massachusetts > Suffolk (county) > Boston
England
Extent:
1 leaf (4 p.) ; 10 1/8 x 7 7/8 in.
Permalink:
https://ark.digitalcommonwealth.org/ark:/50959/cv43ps34z
Terms of Use:
No known copyright restrictions.
No known restrictions on use.
Place of origin:
Drimnaugh Cottage, Dublin, [Ireland]
Language:
English
Notes:
Holograph, signed.
Parker Pillsbury asks if his coming over here as an agent would be useful. Richard D. Webb emphasizes the "feebleness and timidity of the anti-slavery spirit" in the United Kingdom. He recalls a conversation about Edmund Quincy's free application of Bible language. Webb writes: "Well, British touchiness on this point is amazingly sensitive. Formalism is powerful, and those who are not formal care little for anti-slavery." Webb explains that he is almost isolated. The fact that a man stopped at his house would "make him suspected by the 'religious' people." Parker Pillsbury's "high flown, somewhat hyperbolical style" would frighten the timid, religious class and shock the taste of the upper class of educated people. Some who express "a warm personal regard for our friend" thought that his coming as an agent would "hardly be of substantial benefit." Since Richard D. Webb parted from Maria Weston Chapman's sisters Caroline, Anne, and Emma in Rome, he has not heard from any of them.
Identifier:
3134237
Call #:
Ms.A.9.2 v.29, p.11A
Barcode:
39999066778992
mq8509641