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[The scholar, translator, poet, and 'bluestocking', Mrs. Elizabeth Carter was a keen walker and undertook 'many a ramble' around her native Deal. In this letter to Mrs. Vesey^[1] she relates a visit to Northbourne Court in 1782. The footnotes denoted by * and ** are by the editor, her nephew, Rev. Montagu Pennington.^[2] The portrait^[3] below is from her memoirs published in 1807.] See overview and letters written in 1767 and 1770.

Letter From Mrs. Carter to Mrs. Vesey

Deal, Aug. 19, 1782

I hope you have had better weather in Ireland than we on the Kentish coast, otherwise I think you must have lost nearly all your airings and walks, for alas so have we. Lady Mary Coke, Mrs. Feilding, and I, had proposed many a ramble together; but during a month that Lady Mary was at Deal, we could never but twice effect our purpose.

I was glad, however, that one of these excursions was to a place where once stood, within my memory, a respectable old mansion, the seat of an ancient and considerable family. Nothing now remains but a few sad vestiges to mark the spot where it stood. A sweet gurgling spring still preserves its musical sound, but the rivulet once formed by it, now forces its way sullenly through the entangled weeds: and the moss-grown trees by which it is bordered, look like the abode of ill omened birds. Do you not always wonder at people who have so little taste, or so little feeling, as to pull down an old family seat, for no other purpose but to sell the materials? They who enjoy the estates of their ancestors, should at least show that respect to the place of their abode, as to let it sink with dignity into a venerable ruin*. The heirs of this estate seem to have been singularly careless of every thing prior to their individual selves. In a fine gallery belonging to the house, there was some beautiful painted glass, containing the arms of the family, probably for many generations. No care was taken to preserve these illuminated records of its antiquity, and they shared the fate of the bricks and stones of the building. In the village church, there is a noble monument in marble, of excellent sculpture for the time. Two figures, as big as the life, are lying on the tomb: one a knight in armour and spurs, the other a lady. On the sides hang his helmet and gauntlets. The inscription is now obliterated, "unfaithful to its charge of flattering fame," and the whole so scandalously neglected by the family, of which there are many surviving branches in opulence, that it is in danger of soon tumbling to pieces, to their shame be it said**. Most pathetic were the lamentations which Lady Mary Coke and I uttered over this sinking memorial of poor Sir Edwin. Supercilious philosophy might perhaps look with contempt on the regret which imagination feels at the demolition of an old family house, or the ruins of a marble tomb. But I think it may be justified by those social principles that interest a sensible heart, in the concerns of those whom such melancholy remains recall to the mind, as having once experienced the like pleasure and pains, hopes and fears, and various vicissitudes of life with ourselves. Besides this sentimental impression, there is an historical reason for setting a value on ancient buildings and monumental sculpture; which not only serve to perpetuate the memory of individuals, but are a record of the times, and a specimen of the manners of the age in which they were raised.

* The mansion here referred to is Northbourn Court, near Deal; of which see more in the Memoirs, p.466, quarto edition. Even its ruins have almost disappeared. The male line of the family ended in four daughters, whose descendants became entitled to it jointly, and were so numerous that it was necessary to sell and divide the property. The present more modern house of Northbourn Court belongs to Henry Pett Hannam, Esq. who is making considerable improvements in the grounds, and endeavouring to restore them to their former beauty.

** The family of Sandys, descended from the Archbishop of York, lived here only for four generations. Sir Edwin, who erected the monument of which Mrs. Carter speaks, was his second son, and the first of the family here. The tablet was left blank by him, to be filled up by his posterity, who, either from contempt or neglect, never fulfilled his intention; for there never was any inscription upon it. The monument itself is in a state of rapid decay.