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 EBENEZER ELLIOTT
(1781 - 1849)



Six Letters by Ebenezer Elliott

Below appear a few letters written by the Corn Law Rhymer. They are collected here for the use of readers who are interested in the poet. Inevitably, the original letters are faded & are increasingly difficult to decipher, so please take advantage of these pages aiming both to preserve & promote the letters of the Poet of the Poor.



 


1819 Letter to Constable & Co, publishers

This early letter is very interesting for the view it gives of the youngish poet negotiating with a publisher. The writer is careful to be polite, and the handwriting is much neater than normal, so we can deduce that Elliott is trying to make a good impression. Regrettably, the poet's efforts to impress did not extend to his use of paragraphing!

The letter was addressed to Messrs Archibald Constable & Co, Edinburgh, Scotland. (No further works by Elliott were published by Constable).

The previous year (1818) had seen the anonymous publication of "Night," a descriptive poem by Elliott. As the publication of "Night" had covered its costs, Constable (with some misgivings) were to publish Elliott's new poem, "Peter Faultless," in 1820, the year after this letter was written. Again it was not attributed to Elliott, but to the author of "Night."

1819 was an important time for Elliott: he had recovered from his bankruptcy (1816); he had moved house to Sheffield & was busy setting up a business there. Elliott actually left Rotherham at the end of November 1819, so it is surprising to note that the letter (dated December) was written in Rotherham & not in Sheffield. It is also revealing that the letter was signed Ebenezer Elliott Junior. The bard was 38 years old but was clearly still paying lots of respect to  his father, Ebenezer Elliott Senior. Another significant fact was that the poet could spare £25 at this time of hardship on a speculative luxury like getting into print. It says much for his determination to succeed as a published poet, or "poor rhyming devil, with a house full of bairns". Observe, too, at the end of the letter, the thrifty Yorkshireman grumbling about the cost of posting to Scotland!


Gentlemen   __________   Masbro near Rotherham, Yorkshire 16th Dec 1819


          I have sent you by coach a manuscript of Peter Faultless to his brother Simon, Tales of Night in rhyme, etc, of which be pleased to publish, in such form as you may think best, a small first edition, ( I think it should not exceed 250 or 300 copies) do your best to make it known, and charge a covering price, so that, if they sell, there may be no loss. The smaller a first edition is, the sooner a second is likely to be called for. I believe there is something in a second edition that is calculated to cure the cowardice of poor human nature. My poem of Night has done little more than pay the expenses of publication, so that I suppose it may be called a sort of failure. A friend of mine finds fault with the preface to the Tales of Night, & with two of the Tales, Matrimonial Magic & Second Nuptials, which he thinks will lower the value of the volume. Now, tho' I never knew any good result from a half measure, I am not so mad, nor so rich, as to publish with every chance against me. Will you have the goodness to put my manuscript into the hands of some person cunning in crambo? There are persons in Edinbro as able as any in the world to give an opinion, I think you would not find it difficult to interest some one of them in the literary fate of a poor rhyming devil, with a house full of bairns. You see I already treat you like old acquaintances, & begin to take liberties, a propensity not uncommon in Yorkshire. The epistle to Simon the Faultless in embryo appeared in several of the magazines, otherwise it might have been better to publish it alone & without any intimation of its having been written by the author of Night, that its success might pave the way for the Tales of Night: yet it is just as difficult to make a pamphlet known as a volume. If poems by the author of Night would be as likely to excite notice as the longer title, it would be better for advertisement. Be careful of the manuscript, for I have no readable manuscript of it. Send ten copies to me, & one each free of expense to Messrs Scott, Crabbe, Southey* (tho' their publisher?) Jeffrey, Alliston (of the Drury Lane Theatre**) the Reviews, and if you think proper, the Examiner & Literary Gazette: the latter begins to have a circulation among poem-reading people, who can afford to buy. I am

Gentlemen,

Your most obedient
E Elliott Jnr

P&S,    I inclose £25.0.0, & will remit you further when required. Please advise receipt of this inclosure & of the manuscript together, for Scotch letters are dear.

EE


* Elliott & Southey corresponded for many years; the latter giving the developing poet much advice & encouragement.

** In  January 1818 Elliott submitted a play to C. W. Ward, owner of the theatre. Possibly the play was returned by Alliston with encouraging comments.


 



 

1832 Letter to William Tait, publisher of the Edinburgh Review



Elliott had a productive relationship with Tait who gave space in his magazine for many articles  & poems by the Corn Law Rhymer. In  1840 Tait produced his edition of "The Poetical Works of Ebenezer Elliott." Tait's Edition (which it became known as) revealed that the relationship between the two literary figures lasted a good many years. (The journal published by Tait is sometimes known as Tait's Magazine and sometimes as Tait's Edinburgh Magazine.)

The letter is a long one & deals mainly with details of the life story of the Poet of the Poor. While much of the story has been recorded before, there is the compelling statement about Elliott's father being "literally hunted out of society." This has not surfaced before & could just reveal why the family moved from Newcastle to Rotherham at some time before the poet was born in 1781. As the poet tells his life story in the letter, we can conclude that the letter is one of the earliest ones to Tait though not the first.

"Corn Law Rhymes" had gone through three editions in 1831, and in the letter Elliott mentions his publisher is about to print a further 2,000 copies which illustrates what a huge seller the book had become. While the poet would have been making a fair amount of money from the success of the book, it is worth pointing out that all the early editions of the "Corn Law Rhymes" deliberately avoided using the poet's name.  Note, too, that the anonymous label "by the author of 'Corn Law Rhymes' was applied to all of Elliott's works until the collected editions of his poems appeared in the early 1840s. Such modesty from the Poet of the Poor! 

Sheffield 1 September 1832

DSir

A few days ago, I sent you "Pay-all's Prayer" * forgetting that Hone [?] had been imprisoned for parodying the liturgy. If you think there is any danger in it, of course, you will not print it. Mr Thomas has shewn me your last letter. My publisher who is about to print 2000 copies of my rhymes, thinks, with me, that Corn Law Rhymer is a better selling name than Ebenezer Elliott, & that the little mystery that remains about me can do no harm. If this were not the case, I have little to say of myself, that would interest your readers. I fear I have no merits, but common sense, good feeling, an honest purpose, and an earnest, fearless will to do my duty. If I have any genius, I can trace it up to accidental causes. I was born about 50 years ago, at Masbro., a village near Sheffield. My father was a man of uncommon humour - a Jacobin - marked as such - hunted, literally hunted out of Society in that account. The Yeomanry used to amuse themselves, periodically by backing their horses through his windows - not once or twice only - but for years.  I have not forgotten the English Reign of Terror. Here you have the Source of my political tendencies. As my father was a commercial clerk with an income of seventy pounds a year - and consequently a rich man - for seventy pounds a year was a great income when I was a lad - he could afford to give me a good education. But, although I excelled all my companions in kite-making, I was considered as little better than a fool by all who knew me. The truth is, I would not take the pains to learn. Having got into the rule called "Practise," without having first learned the five first rules of arithmetic, I often kept away from my school for six or seven months together, snake killing, and bird nesting in the Thrybergh woods. To these wild wanders, I impute the love of nature & her wonders, which will quit me but with life. But as I would not, or as my teachers said - could not - learn to count, my father determined that I should learn to work, and put me into the foundery of his employers, Thomas Roberts, the foreman, having told him that I was no fool. I liked work exceedingly, and soon gave promise of becoming a first rate workman. At this time, I was saved, or lost, by an accident. My cousin, Ben Robinson, had a book which he was taking in monthly; it was full of coloured plates of plants, and his mother shewed me how to draw them, by holding them up to the light, with a piece of paper before them. I became a drawer, then a botanist, then took a dislike to the alehouse, to which I had sometimes gone with the workmen. About this time my brother bought Thompson's Seasons & read pages aloud to the family. Now the dunce was conscious of the beauty of the poetry - and Giles was a capital reader. When he had lain down the book, I took it into the garden to compare the printed botany with the real polyanthuses. I had for some time been, on my holidays, a collector of flowers. I became a poet. So much for genius, & natural tendencies, about which I do not believe one word. I am now a dealer in steel, working hard, every day - literally labouring with head & hands - and, alas, with my heart, too! if you think the steel trade, in these profitless days, is not a heavy hard-working trade, come to break out a ton.

I send you herewith my only copies of the Village Patriarch & Corn Law Rhymes.

I remain [ - ], DSir Yours very truly

Ebenezer Elliott

*    Tait did not go on to publish "Pay-All's Prayer" since the work only appears to have been published in Pearce's Sheffield Magazine & Yorkshire Miscellany Vol 1 No. 2 Feb 1833.

At the end of his letter, Elliott clearly realised he was going on for too long since he finishes abruptly but with the interesting comment that his work was physically taxing for little return. Clearly, he was no great employer of men since he was doing the heavy work himself "in these profitless days."




 

Letter to Edward Bulwer Lytton, Jan 13th 1832

Elliott's letter was addressed to: Edward Lytton Bulwer Esq MP, 36 Hertford Street, London. It was franked FREE 16 JA 1832. As with many of the poet's letters of this time it was written in Sheffield, although the bard had already moved to Great Houghton. The letter indicates an earlier correspondence between the two men which is not surprising since Bulwer Lytton played a major role in promoting the initial success of the "Corn Law Rhymes" in 1831. Elliott then had much to owe to Lytton  & held him in esteem as the following short poem indicates:-

"Pelham"

"We spoke of Bulwer. "He was great
In style and thought." Could he create?
"He could both execute and plan."
His book was making then a stir,
And a still youth beside us sate.
"What do you think of Bulwer, Sir?"
And, placid-eyed, the youth replied,
"He is a Gentleman".

The text of the letter to Lord Lytton appears thus:-


Sheffield 13th January 1832

DSir
    I have sent you & the publishers of the [ - ], Mac Lickgrubs Confessions & Panacea! A capital article might be written on the subject - and it is wanted - though I have failed in it, and great is my failure. It graters my gizzard to see those Scotch hirelings, utterly unopposed, insulting all the good and wise, decrying the very name of usefulness and honesty, and infecting our language itself with contempt and baseness - while it overwhelm them and their patrons with inextinguishable laughter, it is only necessary to quote their insanity, provided it is done in a light razor edged way. But I am only fit for a scene to tear a cat in. Oh, that a Man would undertake their castigation, at this moment - he might do the State some service.
    I have also sent you one of my printed  Sins, "Scotch Nationality," of which Mr Richard Phillips said that nothing equal to it had appeared since Sir Perkins[?] Mac Sycophant. It was printed etc at the risk of the book setter who, I fear, lost by it. I got nothing.
    You have ruined me by advising me to read "Paul Clifford."* Adieu, Jeremy Bentham. One of my boys - and young persons are no bad judges of these matters - thinks your comic scenes and characters are as good as Shakespeare. I thought dramatic wit had died with him. The meeting of Brandon and his wife is equal to any thing in Dante, but there are others who can paint such scenes. Your forte is with all things the one which I most envy, because it never can be mine. Your Tomlinsoniana seem to have excited some righteous indignation here. In our library copy, Nos 1, 12, 13, 14, 15 are much torn, and as carefully glued together again. I am sorely tempted to rip No 23. Your social picture is too true.
    I have not received "Eugene Aram,"** but I hear you have not made him innocent, for which I am sorry. I think, with you, that people are quite as likely to be innocent as guilty.
    I will send the parcel to the publishers very soon.

I am, DSir Yours very truly

Ebenezer Elliott

* "Paul Clifford" was a novel by Bulwer Lytton published in 1830.
** "Eugene Aram" was also a novel by Bulwer Lytton published in 1832. Elliott was clearly impressed by the novel since in 1836 he wrote the poem below with the same title as Bulwer's novel.

It is not really clear what annoys Elliott in the first paragraph of his letter to Lord Lytton, so the bard's "Scotch hirelings" must rest unexplained, though the subject would have been of significant interest to Lord Lytton as well. The revelation about the publication of "Scotch Nationality" is very interesting: Elliott did not receive a penny for his work while the publisher failed to cover his costs."Scotch Nationality" was published in 1824, so it was one of Elliott's earlier efforts. The volume was described as a strange mixture. Later in life, the poet became ashamed of it & bought up the unsold copies in order to destroy them. In 1875, two of Elliott's sons reprinted the work as "The Vision."

"EUGENE ARAM"

Knaresbro'! thou wilt be famous through all time,
Because poor Aram's history imparts
A dreadful, unsolved riddle to all hearts -
A half-told secret, in its gloom sublime,
Though trite and common are death, want, and crime;
But Bulwer o'er thy caverns, rocks, and trees,
Throws the deep charm of thoughtful melodies,
Heart-cherish'd, like a dim cathedral's chime.
That charm will live when rock-built towers decay -
That charm, when rocks themselves are turned to dust,
Will, to the slanderers of the great and just,
And the grim ghost of buried Envy, say -
"Though Time hath plough'd your graves, and ground thy bust,
I am not of the things which pass away."


Letter to Edward Bulwer Lytton, MP March 7th 1832


This short covering letter was delivered by hand and was addressed to Edward Lytton Bulwer Esq MP, 36 Hertford Street, London. It was sealed with red wax. The letter contained two extracts from Elliott's poem "The Splendid Village," which was first published in 1833, the year after the letter was written. The two extracts sent to Lord Lytton were therefore early drafts.

The first extract was given the title "Feast of the Village." This appears in "The Splendid Village" as verse three of Part 2. The later published version of "Feast of the Village" shows many changes from the draft in the order of the lines from line 12 to the end. This shows that the poet was happy with the content of the poem but needed to change the emphasis.

The second extract from "The Splendid Village"  was verse six from Part 1. Save for line seven, the two versions are identical. In the draft, line seven reads "loudest in debate;" in the final working the line appears as "in the loud debate."

In the left margin of "Feast of the Village," Bulwer Lytton noted "His poetry is full of power, tho often rude & sometimes coarse."


Sheffield 7th March 1832

DSir

The bearer of this letter (Jonathan Brammall, Editor of the Sheffield Mercury, my tory friend, and only literary adviser here) is fond of hearing debates in parliament; if on any particular occasion, you can facilitate his entrance in the house, you will much oblige me. I have seldom followed his critical suggestions but I have sometimes regretted not having done so. I am sorry to say, he dislikes all the political allusions in the "Splendid Village." But what would the poem be without them? I did not wish to produce a [ - ] but a book, which men - and women - might read, with advantage. Still, I feel there are many words which might better be smoothed a little, or left out. But though I have altered two passages, and no [ - ] [ - ]trouble you with them, in their altered shape. A few days ago, I sent you an article on the State of Feeling & Opinion in a manufacturing town.

I am DSir Yours very truly & thankfully

Ebenezer Elliott

It is clear from this brief letter that the poet submitted his work to influential people & asked for their comments; which - let's face it - makes much sense. How much feedback Elliott received in turn would be interesting to see. And, likewise, how much he followed their advice.


Letter to Edward Bulwer Lytton, MP, 3rd Aug 1833


Sheffield 3rd August 1833


DSir

I have just been reading your fragment of your drama in the present number of the Monthly Magazine. It contains passages which, as poetry, have never been excelled, and rarely equalled, except by two authors. There is, however, a radical fault in it. Your hero ought to have been made the mere victim of his physical necessities, in a moment of temporary delirium. Call the drama "Hunger and Crime." Make it ideal, not historical, and give your hero any name but that of Eugene Aram*. Let him appear in the 1st Act, as he does appear, beset with duns - let him talk wildly, and mutter his consciousness that his sanity is giving way; then let the tempter, Potela [ ? ], wring from him the secret of his utter destitution, and like a worse Iago, or the devil, without pause urge him to the commission of the horrid crime, under the instant influence of the temporary madness which hunger is known, when extreme, to produce. Those excuses with which human nature knows how to deceive itself, will then command our sympathies, and you will unlock the terrible with the true key.

Scene 4 must be Scene 5, and instead of saying "If it were done," your hero must say "Now that it is done." But your criminal hurriedly and coldly exculpates the deed before it is done; it is not his poverty, but his will, that consents. Do not defeat what ought to be a masterpiece. Your hero, instead of being a most repulsive being, may just as easily be the reverse. After having, in the agonies and too real madness of hunger strong as the fates, become a murderer, let him then display his hapless sophistries, his unavailing tendency, his high intellectuality - and spectator and reader alike will be heart-broken. But why call him Eugene Aram? Why choose a difficulty? Why throw away an advantage? He may be of any country, of any time, of any name. Although it is plain that you are to do great things as a dramatist, you must not think of abandonning this drama. As a subject its capabilities are the very highest, and you can make it equal in interest to Faust. Pray excuse me. Fools will teach, though they cannot learn. I am DSir Yours very truly

Ebenezer Elliott


*    We have noted in the earlier letter to Bulwer Lytton that "Eugene Aram" was the title of a novel written by Bulwer in 1832.


This long letter was franked Sheffield Aug 3 1833 and was addressed to Edward Lytton Bulwer Esq MP, 36 Hertford Street, London.

Elliott's tone is remarkable. He praises Bulwer's work but is stridently critical. Although this would have been with good intentions, it must have been received as  being overfamiliar. The letter tails off abruptly with "Pray excuse me. Fools will teach, though they cannot learn." The poet realising in the end that his letter was over the top. Although Elliott was writing to an influential & powerful figure, he is typically ebullient & true to himself with no consideration given to the status of the recipient.


1833 Letter to William Tait


For once Elliott writes a short letter owing to pressure of work & family problems. Another son, Thomas aged 15, had died on Sept 20th, so Elliott was understandably nervous about his son, Ben, being ill. While the poet's business was doing well at this time, it is significant that the illness of his son left the business short staffed. It has never been known how many people Elliott employed, but the evidence points to a small business with Elliott probably only employing his sons. In another article on this site, it was noted that Elliott was working by himself in his warehouse (see the article The Corn Law Rhymer Gets Taken To Court).

It is very interesting to see that Tait was paying the Corn Law Rhymer handsomely  for the items he submitted for Tait's magazine. In 1833 Elliott had published "The Splendid Village" which would have reinforced his reputation & possibly raised the fees he received. At any rate, the letter suggests that both men have reached an understanding of what they both have to offer. Note here Elliott's characteristic belittling of the merits of his poetry.

At the end of the letter, the poet mentions the setting up of the Sheffield Anti Corn Law Society. Elliott was one of the movers in this, though it appears that the society was not actually functioning as soon as predicted, since it was established in January 1834. Christmas celebrations probably getting in the way!


Sheffield 16th December 1833


DSir


Thank you for your favour of the 14th instant, covering a Bill for £20 - 0 - 0 which pays for all my contributions to your Magazine, to this date.

My son Ben, who helps me in my business, being ill, I have little time for writing, but will take care always  to send  a poem in time for each future number.

I fear you overrate the merits of my poetry, but I am not surprized that you like it better than my prose. I will tell you what I have never told before, though I dare say it is no secret. I write verses, because I know my thoughts are not good enough for prose. Poets know nothing, what can they teach?

The Iris* will appear on Tuesday the [ - ] instant, a day earlier than the date of your next number. I have no wish that you should infuriously anticipate yourself to oblige the Editor of the Iris and me. However, if you determine to send the proof, it should be here by Friday the 27th instant latest, Sunday the 29th being a blank day, and on Monday the 30th a great press of matter reaches the Printing Office.

In another week, I trust, the Sheffield Anti Cornlaw Society will be at work. The illness of my son is a great evil at this moment.

I am, DSir

Yours very truly

Ebenezer Elliott 


* "The Iris" was a Sheffield newspaper.


 


1836 Letter to Samuel Carter Hall


In 1871 S. C. Hall (1800-89) published "A Book of Memories of Great Men & Women of the Age from Personal Acquaintance." In his book, Hall wrote a ten page sketch on the life & work of Elliott. The letter below from Elliott to Hall in 1836 was included in the sketch.

Hall 's description of the Corn Law Rhymer is worth reading: "But though almost insane in his denunciation of the aristocracy, and absolutely rabid at times, both in his conversation and his writings, there was in his heart an innate love of the graceful and the beautiful in nature; the fiercer passions evaporated in a green lane, and wrath was effectually subdued by the gentle breezes of the hill-side. His strongly marked countenance bespoke deep and stern thought; his pale grey eyes, reckless activity; his every look and motion indicated an enthusiastic temperament; his overhanging brow was stern, perhaps forbidding; but the lower portions of his face betokened mildness and benevolence; and his smile, when not sarcastic, was a most sweet and redeeming grace."

According to Hall, Lord Lytton was much taken by "The Ranter." In his essay on the Poet of the Poor, Hall explained: "Comparatively little was known of the vast poetical power of Ebenezer Elliott until 1831, when an article in the New Monthly Review (then under my editorship), from the pen of Lord Lytton, directed public attention to his genius. It was Dr Bowring who showed to Lord Lytton a mean-looking and badly-printed pamphlet called "The Ranter." He was struck with it, and sent to me a review of the work. Lord Lytton wrongly described him, as others had done, as a mechanic."


SHEFFIELD, 9th December, 1836.


I have a great favour to ask you, a favour which, on my knees, I implore you to grant. If you do not grant it, you will miss the opportunity of honouring the New Monthly, by taking an entirely new view of the most important subject that ever agitated the public mind. My request is, that you will publish in your forthcoming number the inclosed article, written and extracted by a friend of the author from the proof-sheets of his unpublished book, entitled "Agricutural Distress, its Causes and Remedy," dedicated to the labouring people of England, and published by Effingham Wilson, London. The author is William Ibbotson, of Sheffield,* merchant, farmer, and Methodist - one of a sect which, he says, numbers or powerfully influences four millions of human beings in Great Britain. It is seldom that men of business like "the Manchester manufacturer" can be induced to write books on any subject. When they do so, it is important that they be encouraged, because their experience and knowledge almost always enable them to write well. Mr. Ibbotson has demonstrated by facts that the Corn Laws are the cause of agricultural distress, and that free trade would raise rents, and permanently keep up agricultural prices, and that nothing else can do so. It is desirable that the article appear in the forthcoming number, to give the well-timed book a shove, and prevent the discouraging of an author from whom great things may be expected. You will soon perceive that Mr. Ibbotson is not used to composition; but his book, in my opinion, is the most important ever published on the subject, although the view he takes of it is opposed to mine. I shall be in most painful suspence until you inform me that you will publish the article, or write one from the documents inclosed. Unless you are false to yourself, and deficient in good strategy, you cannot, as a friend of the agricultural interest, refuse the favour I request.


I am, dear Sir, yours very truly,


EBENEZER ELLIOTT


* In a footnote to Elliott's letter, Hall comments: "Mr. Ibbotson, "the thirteen-childed patriot," as Elliott once called him at a public meeting, was an active politician and a worthy man. He was a firm and zealous friend of James Silk Buckingham, whose return to Parliament, as one of the first representatives of the borough of Sheffield after the passing of the Reform Bill in 1832, was largely due to the personal energy and popular influence of the worthy merchant, farmer, and Methodist.


It is typical of the Poet of the Poor that he takes the trouble to write to the editor of the Monthly Review in praise of an author whose views conflicted with his own: it shows a generous nature & a willingness to see another person's point of view. Ibbotson's book was published in 1837, the year after Elliott's letter.

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