The Walt Whitman Archive
Life & Letters
Correspondence
About this Item
Title: Elizabeth A. Cottell to Walt Whitman, 10 June 1889
Date: June 10, 1889
Whitman Archive ID: loc.08101
Source: The Charles E. Feinberg Collection of the Papers of Walt Whitman, 1839–1919, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. . Transcribed from digital images or a microfilm reproduction of the original item. For a description of the editorial rationale behind our treatment of the correspondence, see our statement of editorial policy.
Editorial note: The annotation, "see notes July 14 1889," is in the hand of Horace Traubel.
Contributors to digital file: Andrew David King, Brandon James O'Neil, Breanna Himschoot, Jason McCormick, and Stephanie Blalock
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Carlyle House
Cheyne Row
Chelsea
London,
England1
Dear Walt Whitman;
I cannot write as a stranger. I must have known you all my life you are wonderful, how did you learn the sacred truth of Leaves of Grass for which I more than thank you, all women true women must.—Every thing is so beautiful.–How can I thank you? You are misunderstood and thanked by yourself.—
Wherever you exist and that is everywhere, Heaven bless and keep you in its own sweet care.—
Send a line that I may have something traced by your strong hand. You start a fresh epoch and yet one grown from the very beginnings of things. There is nothing written like your lovely Leaves. It stands alone in its valor and truth.—
May every care be softened for your sweet heart and hands
Your true and grateful friend
E.A. Cottell
Correspondent:
Elizabeth Ann Caulfeild
Cottell (1826–1894) was the daughter of Rev. Edward Warren Caulfeild and
Anne Pybus. In 1851, she married Maj. James William Cottell, whose service in
the East India Company took the couple to India where they had four children,
Arthur Bowditch, Reginald James Cope, Alfred Prybus, and Edward Caulfeild. After
James Cottell's death in 1860, Elizabeth and her sons returned to England.
Sometime around 1885, she moved into the former Chelsea home of writers Thomas
and Jane Carlyle, and soon had a reputation for keeping a large number of cats
and dogs. In 1892, Cottell was summoned to the Westminster Police Court for the
hoard and in 1893 was sued by the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to
Animals (see "Mrs. Cottell's Eccentricities—Conviction for Cruelty" in the
London Daily News (June 17, 1893), 3). After her
death in 1894, the home was purchased by the Carlyle's House Memorial Trust and
fully restored. For more information on Cottrell, see Debrett's Illustrated Peerage, Robert H. Mair ed. (London:Dean and
Son, 1884), 141.
Notes:
1. This letter is addressed: Walt Whitman Esqr | Campden | New Jersey. | U. S. A. "Campden" has been corrected to "Camden NJ" in another hand. This letter is postmarked: LONDON | 167 | JU 10 | 89 | S.W.; DEFICIENCY | IN | ADDRESS | SUPPLIED | BY | N.Y.P.O. [illegible]DN; POMPTON | 20 | N. J.; [illegible]; NEW YORK | JUN | 22; B; PAID | ALL; POM [illegible]; CAMDEN | [illegible] | 26 | 6 AM | 1889 | REC'D.; N [illegible]K | JUN 25 | 3 AM | 89; 8. [back]