1814–1818

Part III marks a shift in the exchange between the two families as Lady Beaumont begins to write independently to Wordsworth on a regular basis. A major focus of her letters to Wordsworth of 1814 and 1815 is the sale and reception of The Excursion. Another major concern around this time is the production of the frontispiece engravings (from paintings by Sir George) to Wordsworth’s Poems and The White Doe of Rylstone (1815). This section also contains details of paintings by Washington Allston, as well as insights into Edward Nash and William Westall, and Beaumont’s assessment of Haydon’s Christ’s Entry into Jerusalem. Beaumont gives detailed appraisals of the actors Edmund Kean, Eliza O’Neill, and John Philip Kemble. In addition, letters in Part III contain two eye-witness descriptions of the battlefield of Waterloo.