Alice Thornton and the Rewriting of Emotional Pain

Blog article published by Joanne Edge on 17 December 2024  TEIemotionsmanuscriptsmedicine

Alice Thornton describes many medical encounters and illnesses in her four Books, and some episodes are recounted and retold in later volumes. In December 2022, I wrote a blog post on Thornton and traumatic illness, demonstrating the ways in which she conceived of and wrote about the effect that sudden emotional trauma had on her physical state. One question that has interested me since is how Thornton writes about the same instances of emotional pain across her four books. In October 2024 I had the chance to present on this topic at the University of Helsinki, as part of a conference organised by the Experiencing Agony team.

In what follows, I look at how Thornton’s account of one particular instance of emotional illness — her recovery from sickness, with the help of her aunt Anne Norton, in July 1668 — was revised. The sickness had been brought about by hearing rumours had been spread about her by her niece Anne Danby and her maid who were living at East Newton Hall with the Thorntons at the time.

While this event is recounted across all four Books, here I will focus on two different versions – from Book 1 (written c.1668–69) and Book 3 (written c.1692–96) to explore how Thornton's retelling of this illness changed with time.

In the earlier version, in Book 1, the narration is contained within two separate paragraphs that appear on consecutive pages:

And now I am to take notice of the grand mercies of my God that would not let me perish through the evil imagination of those that rose up against me, but after an immeasurable portion of sorrow and grief (having kept my bed fourteen days, weak and feeble through the exceeding pains of the mother and spleen and other sicknesses thereon) yet at length he (God) raised me up again, giving me a great comfort in my dear aunt Norton's company, who, hearing of my sad misfortune and weakness, came to put a stop to my troubles.^[1]

In between these two paragraphs, Thornton expounds on her piety and gratitude to God.

Such was my dear aunt's care and charitable affection towards me, seeing me in such a deplorable condition of weakness and grief for these infinite wrongs and slanders, that she saw I did not take any comfort in my life, and that I could not sleep but still the frights and terror seized upon me, as if those two persons, which so abused me, were standing ready to tear my eyes and, as I fancied in my dreams, would have killed me.^[2]

Although relatively concise, this description provides a lively sense of the symptoms Thornton experienced as a result of this sudden emotional shock. She suffered with pains of the spleen and mother (the womb), and was ill for about two weeks, until — by God’s providence — her aunt came to help her. Thornton could not sleep, and her aunt understood that this was because of the 'frights and terrors' of the abuse by Danby and her maid.

Book 3’s retelling, however, is much more detailed, occupying two pages and running to nearly 800 words. It is too long to reproduce in full here, but can be viewed on our edition pages, within the highlighted markers. This account does not go into the physical details of Thornton's illness, but rather outlines Anne Norton's role in bringing about Thornton's recovery. She helped facilitate Anne Danby's exit from the household, whose presence was causing Thornton a great deal of distress. She also spoke to several of Thornton's friends and relations who had heard the rumours to set them straight: Isabel Wyvill, Peter Samways, and Mary Yorke. She facilitated spiritual comfort in the bringing of Samways over to Thornton to pray with her. We also learn details of how much Thornton paid Anne Danby on leaving — two separate payments of £3 and £5 — as well as the hiring of Susannah Graham's coach to take her away to York.^[3]

This is a much fuller account, then, than that in Book 1 and some of these details are verified by other evidence. For example, a letter from Anne Danby to one Parson Farrer, written December 1668 or 1669, confirms that Danby was allowed to stay for some time at East Newton after the discovery of the rumours; her aunt Thornton was very ill when she departed; Thornton gave her some money as a 'donation' on two separate occasions when she left; a coach had been borrowed; and the key role of Anne Norton in the affair.^[4]

What might the differences between these two versions tell us about her motivations for rewriting the same experience? Does this speak to a shift in her own understanding of that experience, and/or does it indicate something about the different audiences she envisages? Book 1 may well have been circulated among friends contemporaneously, while those involved were all still alive, whereas by the time Book 3 was written, many of them, possibly including Anne Danby herself, had died.^[5] It is also notable that the later version places far more emphasis on the support she received from her ‘dear aunt’. Perhaps, then, these revisions acted as a memorial to Anne Norton (died 1683), the trusty aunt who had come to Thornton's aid during this terrible episode. What is more certain is that while a modern reader might expect an account produced closer to the event concerned to be more detailed, here the passage of time enables Thornton to provide more information, not less. Therefore, Thornton’s revisions challenge any assumption that the earlier account might be the more fulsome.