and am sorry it is not in my power to furnish you with 'Mr. Anderson's Answer to the Attack, &c.' having already despatched my copy of it to Dr. Farmer, who by this time, I hope, is breathing his native air at Leicester. "The original publication of Elizabetha Triumphans shall be ready for you whenever you want it. No discovery of additional blank verse has occurred since I wrote to you last. "Your nephew, the Rev. Henry Meen, has the megrims; and, supposing that purer air than that of London is necessary to the restoration of his health, has taken a house at Chigwell in Essex. Your Lordship's chances of typographical acceleration will not, therefore, be much improved, unless you can find another nephew, who has some spring in his mind, as well as greater proximity to Red Lion Passage.* "When you reach town, I shall be much obliged by a sight of the Anglo-Saxon verses. Till then, I have the honour to remain, my dear Lord, your most faithful and obedient servant, "G. STEEVENS." "MY DEAR LORD, Hampstead Heath, July 17, 1797. "For ten days I had been following my hay-carts in Essex, and consequently did not receive your inquiries till it was too late for me to answer them by Saturday's post. "George Chapman very often signed his pieces with his initials only; nor has it been discovered that these initials can belong to any other writer of the same period. I know not, however, of any poem of his in blank verse, except that reprinted by Hackluyt. "The name of Ja. Aske has not occurred, except in the place where we have found it. "You may rest assured that Pontius Pilate's Letter did not appear in print till 1587. See Warton's Hist. of English Poetry, vol. III. p. 269, 270. For an account of Higgins, see the same work and volume, p. 259. As you may have frequent occasion for references to this book, you should borrow it (if it is to be found in your present neighbourhood), or order it to be sent to you from London. * Mr. Nichols's Printing Office. "You have undoubtedly learnt from the public prints, that, since the death of Dr. Warren,* the club has lost another member in Mr. Burke.† We met on Tuesday last, and I proposed the Rev. Stephen Weston (I mean the translator of Gray's Elegy into Greek hexameters), to fill up one of the four vacancies. My recommendation was seconded by the Duke of Leeds. Mr. Windham talked of four other candidates, out of whom a future selection might be made; viz. the Lord Chancellor,§ the Bishop of Rochester,|| Dr. Lawrence, and Mr. Canning.** If Parliament is not dissolved beforehand, we are to have another club on the Tuesday after next. "Your Lordship has certainly favoured me with a postscript that was designed for some other of your correspondents; as I know no more of a Mr. Wigley,'tt • his franks and his circuits,' than I do of the man in the moon.‡‡ "Forgive, my dear Lord, the hasty mode in which I have answered your queries, as I am obliged to spend this whole morning at the bank, in the receipt of dividends on various accounts, and for different friends in the country. "I remain, my dear Lord, your very faithful and obedient servant, GEO. STEEVENS. "P. S. The story you may have read in the newspapers about money lost by the D. of Leeds at the gaming-table is absolutely false. No such event has happened. this information from the Duke's own mouth. "I am this moment informed that your nephew, little I had * Richard Warren, M.D. died June 2, 1797. See Literary Anecdotes, III. 130. † Mr. Burke died July 8, 1797. Rev. Stephen Weston died Jan. 8, 1830. See Gent. Mag. April 1830, p. 370. He is frequently alluded to in the Literary Anecdotes, see Index, VII. pp. 462. 709. Literary Illustrations, III. 759. 764. § Lord Loughborough, created Earl of Rosslyn 1801, and died Jan. 3, 1805. See Chalmers' Biog. Dict. XXXI. 267. Dr. Horsley. See Literary Anecdotes, IX. pp. 673-692; and VII. p. 137. ¶ Dr. French Lawrence, M.P. died Feb. 27, 1809. See a memoir of him in Gent. Mag. 1809, p. 282. ** Mr. Canning died Aug. 8, 1827. ++ Edmund Wigley, esq. M.P. for Worcester and recorder of Leicester. This PS. was designed for Mr. Meen. See Mr. Meen's Letter to the Bishop, May 2, 1797, printed hereafter. Meen, is gone to Ramsgate for the purpose of recruiting his health, which he is always willing to think is on the decline." "MY DEAR Lord, Hampstead Heath, June 10, 1797. "I was on a journey when your favour arrived, or the book you desire to see would have been despatched sooner by twenty-four hours. "I shall drop this parcel, which is pocketable, according to your instructions, and trust it will reach you safe. "Our fears concerning Ireland for some days past have been over, and I hope we shall very soon be released from our anxieties about the Navy. The conduct of the sailors will have produced one good effect, I mean a temporary union among us. "Our friend at Emmanuel is growing weaker and weaker, and was utterly unable to attend the annual meeting of his college at the Crown and Anchor on Tuesday last. I was one of the stewards; and, in consequence of an old promise of yours to Dr. Farmer, was authorised to name you as my successor; an honour of which I readily availed myself. "Little Meen will be in town till September, and then he returns to his hermitage at Chigwell in Essex. "I have no literary intelligence to transmit, except that a few days ago I received as a present from the author (viz. the Rev. James Plumptre* of Clare Hall, Cambridge,) a pamphlet written to prove that the character of Hamlet was meant for that of James the First, and the Ghost for the representation of Lord Darnley. As Falstaff says to Mrs. Ford, "Would you desire better sympathy?" I rejoice, however, to find that our critick has made no revelations to the disadvantage of 'one Lucianus, NEPHEW to the King?' Your Lordship's dramatic property, left behind you at Dromore, increases every day in value; for three quarto copies of Shakspeare's single Plays were sold at the following prices, on Thursday last, by Messieurs Leigh and Sotheby, York Street, Covent Garden: * Rev. James Plumptre, B.D. died Jan. 23, 1832. See a memoir of him in Gent. Mag. 1832, i. 369. £ s. d. King Henry IV. first part 1599 second part. 1600 10 0 0 8 8 0 1600 7 10 0 Do. Much ado, &c. At the same sale, Hughes's "Misfortunes of Arthur, Uther Pendragon's sonne " (title-page wanting), 12mo. 1587, produced 167. 15s. "And now, my dear Lord, I have no more to add, except that I am always your very faithful and obedient humble servant, "GEO. STEEvens. "I still hope we shall see your Lordship in London before you return to Ireland." "MY DEAR Lord, Hampstead Heath, Sept. 3, 1797. "Since I received your favour, I have spent some hours in a fruitless inquiry about the Epilogue* you have quoted; but even the accurate Mr. Reed can supply no information on the subject. As there is nothing appropriate in this composition, perhaps the author produced it as a piece of sale-work, for the service of a chance customer, or for his own future use. Finding, however, no commodious vent or employment for his ware, he might afterwards have worked up some of its materials into another fabrick. I may add, that several of his lines apparently glance at the sentimental pieces of his dramatic rivals, Kelly and Cumberland, and therefore on mature consideration might have been suppressed. "In the mean while, it is fit you should learn that any present attempt to throw a ring fence round the poetical demesnes of Goldsmith will be ineffectual, as a late discovery has been made of a dramatic piece in his own handwriting. It turned up among the papers of the late Mr. Dodsley; which, by the bye, exhibit all your Lordship's agreements, receipts, and other literary transactions with the deceased bookseller, ab ovo usque ad mala. These documents are to be preserved as evidences of literary property. The oratorio in question, entitled Captivity, was sold by the Doctor to Dodsley, Oct. 31, 1764, for ten guineas; and Newbury was to have the option of a share in it. It is now setting to musick by an eminent com * Written by Goldsmith, afterwards printed in his "Miscellaneous Works," 4 vols. 8vo, 1801. poser, and great expectations are formed of its success. One of the songs belonging to it has been already published in former editions of our little Poet's works.† "But a word or two more about them; for perhaps you are unacquainted with a metrical production of his on the death of the Princess Dowager of Wales. It was spoken and sung at the celebrated public rooms of Mrs. Cornelys in Soho Square, and was afterwards printed. Several other pieces of the Doctor's are still in MS. in the hands of various people. The late Mr. Wright,‡ the printer, who had been either apprentice to or in the service of Mr. Hamilton, at a time when Goldsmith composed numerous essays for Magazines, articles for Reviews, &c. &c. preserved a list of these fugitive pieces, which are now reprinting, and will make their appearance in the course of next winter. Goldsmith likewise began a periodical paper, which, being unsuccessful, was laid aside, after a few numbers of it had been issued out.§ "I have no copy of Marlow's Lucan. Mr. Malone is in possession of one, and from him you may possibly get the loan of it. I once had this curiosity, but lent it, I believe, to Tom Warton, or some other careless friend, from whom I have not recovered it. As the meetings of our club have for some time been discontinued, no election can take place till we are are again assembled at the Session of Parliament. "Dr. Farmer still continues in the same melancholy situation, nor can any hope of his recovery be entertained. He has taken to a milk diet; is said to be as pale as the fluid he lives upon; and is quite reduced to a skeleton. He will see none but his own family; and consequently I. shall not think of paying my customary autumnal visit to Cambridge. "As your Lordship is desirous to know what figure you make in the blundering ungrammatical catchpenny of Sir G. S. I will transcribe from vol. ii. p. 297, the only mention that is made of you. 'The Orphan of China, how * Two songs had been printed from the Oratorio. PRIOR. + Mr. Steevens the composer. Nothing resulted from this project. PRIOR. Of Mr. Thomas Wright, who died March 3, 1797, see Literary Anecdotes, vol. III. p. 398. Thus far of this Letter is copied in Prior's Life of Goldsmith, II. 10, from the original then in possession of Mr. Mason. Sir George Leonard Staunton. He died Jan. 12, 1801. See Chalmers's Biog. Dict. |