"History of North America' will shortly go to press. I do not know whether or not this anecdote of Charles V.' ever reached your Lordship. When the late King of Prussia had read that celebrated work, he threw the 'History of Charles' into the fire, and ordered the State of Europe' to be splendidly bound. "Ritson, who presumed to treat your Lordship, Dr. Warton, and several other eminent literary characters, so ungentlemanly, was lately in this city, where he spent a few days incog. He means to publish a Collection of Scottish Ballads' this winter. "I have the honour to be, &c. J. C. WALKER." Dec. 21, 1788. Mr. WALKER to RICHARD GOUGH, Esq. "DEAR SIR, "I am glad to find that my 'Dress' has, at length, fallen into your hands, though, I fear, it will furnish you with little information, however painful the research might have been to me. My bookseller informs me, he has advertised and sold several copies of it, yet you seem to think it has not been advertised. Be so good as to beg of some friend to inquire into this matter. "I am, &c. J. C. WALKER. "Did you ever see a print of Irish Dresses from an illuminated copy of Froissart, now in Oxford? I never did, but was informed that there is such a print." Mr. GOUGH to J. C. WALKER, Esq. Enfield, Jan. 12, 1789. "DEAR SIR, "I have your two last favours, with the remainder of the sheets; which, after a delay of a full twelvemonth, enables me to draw my great work to a conclusion. No endeavour, on my part, has been wanting to make the description of Ireland as complete as I could, and to see that country with more eyes than Mr. Camden is charged with having done. I should hope for the candour of the natives who may peruse it, and their further improvements in a future edition. I mean to send separate copies to my correspondents. "My distance from town prevents my seeing any newspapers, but I cannot learn that the 'Dress' has been advertised. I was much informed by your narrative, but either the monuments must be infinitely ruder than any I have seen in Great Britain, or the drawings fall short in the representations. I proceed very slowly with my second volume of Sepulchral Monuments.' "Accept the best wishes of the season, though I hope you have it not so severe as it is with us; and my acknowledgments for the favour of your correspondence hitherto, and, believe me, it will be at all times acceptable to your obliged humble servant, R. GOUGH." Mr. WALKER to RICHARD GOUGH, Esq. "DEAR SIR, Dublin, Feb. 22, 1789. "I observe my 'Irish Dress' has been reviewed with great candour and politeness in the English Review;' but in the Gentleman's Magazine' I was sorry, for the sake of that valuable Repository, to find it treated with great illiberality. The faults on which the reviewer fastened were below the notice of criticism. This you must have observed yourself, if you took the trouble to read the critique.* "J. C. WALKER." TO BISHOP PERCY. Sept. 22, 1789. "MY LORD, "On my return I found your Lordship's favour. I would have done myself the honour to acknowledge it sooner, but I have been much indisposed. However, I have not been unmindful of your Lordship's directions. I have written at considerable length to Mr. Ritson, and, I think, have opened his eyes. In truth, I had little more to do than to transcribe your Lordship's letter, changing, as I proceeded, the second to the first person. With respect to alterations in orthography, Mr. Ritson had no right to find fault; for, in the preface to his English Songs,' he says, 'No liberties, beyond a necessary modernisation of the orthography, have been taken with the language of these antique compositions,' &c. &c. "Having occasion to write to Mr. Hayley, I also took an opportunity to mention to him my having compared * This able but severe critique was written by Mr. Gough himself. See Gent. Mag. vol. LVIII. p. 996. some of the printed ballads of the Reliques' with the originals, and expressed my surprise at the fidelity of the press, if I may so express myself. "Poor Hunter's indisposition has prevented me from consulting him respecting Shee, but as soon as he is recovered I shall call upon him and acquaint your Lordship with the result. "Command me in any thing in which I can serve your Lordship. "I have the honour to be, &c. "MY LORD, J. C. WALKER." Buxton, Nov. 7, 1789. "A few days before my departure from Ireland, I took the liberty to acquaint your Lordship with my intended excursion, entreating, at the same time, to be honoured with your commands. Since my arrival here I have been favoured with a Letter from Mr. Ritson, in which there is the following passage: As a publication of uncommon elegance and poetical merit, I have always been, and still am, a warm admirer of Bishop Percy's Reliques.' And, though I have been persuaded that he has not, on every occasion, been so scrupulously attentive to his originals as I think the work required, I shall be very glad to find the idea unfounded, and readily confess that what you have been so obliging as to tell me about the folio MS. has in a great measure removed my prejudice on that head. The limits of letter will not permit me to enter fully into the discussion of a question upon which, I believe, a good deal may be said. In the course of some prefatory matter to a book which ought to have come out two or three years ago, but which I hope to receive and have the pleasure of transmitting to you in a short time, you will perceive the grounds upon which I have ventured to doubt the authenticity, or at least the fidelity, of this celebrated publicacation.' He then questions the authenticity of The History of Han Kiou Chouan,' and concludes this part of the Letter with referring me to p. 259 in 'Love and Madness.' Thus have I, without a breach of confidence, opened Mr. Ritson's mind to your Lordship. My humble pen is at your Lordship's command if you should choose to employ it further on this occasion. On Friday next I intend to leave this, and hope to reach Dublin early in the next week. The Chinese Novel, published by Dr. Percy, 4 vols. 1761. See Quarterly Review, No. LXXXI. p. 114.-J. M. "I made my tour to this town a classical one. In Anglesea I read Mason's Caractacus,' and recited Gray's Bard' on a rock that frowns 'o'er old Conway's foaming flood.' In the town of Conway I was so fortunate as to meet with a pupil of the celebrated Parry, whose performance set the Ode to which I have alluded in motion. He is an excellent performer, and did great justice to several tunes a thousand years old, with names enough to choke you, as Gray expresses it. "There is now in this town a Mrs. Lacy, of Carlisle, who, on learning I was from Ireland, asked me if I knew your Lordship. Informing her I had that honour, she begged I would make her kindest wishes to your Lordship and family, particularly to Miss Percy, of whom she spoke in the warmest terms of praise. "I have the honour to be, &c. J. C. WALKER." To the EDITOR of the GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE. "MR. URBAN, Dublin, Aug. 20, 1790. "I am much pleased with Edward Williams's Ode, imitated from the Gododin of Aneurin Gwaurdrydd, vol. LIX. p. 1035; and should be glad to see a memoir of Williams prefixed to his works; also, a particular account of the congress of bards, mentioned in J. D's Letter to Mr. Urban, p. 976. I think the literary society of Welsh gentlemen, formed in London, should take Williams under their protection, and supply him with such books as are best calculated to refine his taste. Let him enrich his fancy from the productions of his own bards. "Sullen,' vol. LX. p. 506, is certainly a better epithet for the bagpipe than woollen.' But see 'Hist. Memoirs of Irish Bards,' p. 76. "J. Ussher, the author of Clio,' vol. LX. p. 511, kept a school near Kensington Gravel Pits when he published that work, and died soon after its appearance. John Walker, who has since written on Elocution, was for a while his usher. "I cannot think, with the editor of the late edition of the Spectator,' that the letters composing the word Clio were intended to mark the places where the several papers by Addison were written. I cannot suppose that he wan *Born 1720; died 1772. He wrote besides "Clio," " Introduction to the Theory of the Human Mind, 1771;" also, a "New System of Philosophy, 1764." A new edition of "Clio" was published by T. Mathew, 1809, 8vo. -J. M. dered about with a pen in his hand, writing a paper wherever he happened to sit down. For this we have no authority; yet this conjecture we find repeated several times throughout the work. "For the next edition of the 'Guardian' take this anecdote: When the 'Comparison between the Pastorals of Pope and Phillips' appeared, Phillips was secretary to Primate Boulter, and then in Ireland. Dining one day with the officers of the Prerogative Court, the 'Comparison' became the subject of conversation, and Phillips said he knew it was written by Pope, adding, 'I wonder why the little crooked bastard should attack me, who never offended him either in word or deed.' This I had from a gentleman who was present. Phillips resided in Bolton-street, Addison on Arbor-hill. The houses of both are still standing. "I think the 'World' ought to be re-published in the manner of the new edition of the 'Spectator.' Materials for notes could now be easily collected. I believe Mr. Walpole is now the only living author of that delightful work. "I am sure all the admirers of the late amiable Henry Brooke will be pleased to hear that his daughter is about to publish a new edition of his works, corrected by his own MSS. and in which several inedited pieces will be given. 66 "Yours, &c. J. C. WALKER." J. C. WALKER, Esq. to BISHOP PERCY. "MY LORD, Aug. 3, 1791. "I was so fortunate as to assist at a ball given by the Elector of Mentz, at which were present the following remarkable personages:-King and Prince Royal of Prussia, Emperor and Empress, two brothers of the Emperor, Electors of Cologne, Treves, and Metz, Duke of Brunswick, Abbé Mory, General Lassé, &c. &c. "I trust the health of Mrs. Percy is perfectly re-established. To her and the young ladies have the goodness to make my respectful compliments acceptable." "MY LORD, Aug. 21, 1791. "I learned, with much pleasure, that Mrs. Percy bore the passage well. The Bath waters have, I trust, improved her health; and I will not despair of seeing her return to Ireland, with her constitution perfectly repaired. "I was grieved I had not the honour of seeing your Lordship before your departure; but I was unwilling to VOL. VII. 3 A |