Beschreibung:

COWPER, William (1731-1800). Autograph letter signed ('W . C') to Samuel Rose, Weston Underwood, 11 November 1788 , beginning his letter with a riddle, he continues by taking Rose to task 'for high crimes and misdemeanours committed since you left us' in sending a barrel of oysters, 'Never were better oysters ... But I have a guess at the tricks you intend, for I saw you busy in your Pocket-book one day when fish was mention'd, and the next day you were very inquisitive about Diligences, Inns &.c. But observe you are forbidden!', describing two local tragedies, 'Mrs Frog's piping Bull-finch has been eaten by a Rat, and the vilain left nothing but poor Bully's beak behind him. It will be a wonder if this event does not at some convenient time employ my versifuing passion. Did ever fair Lady, from the Lesbia of Catullus to the present day, lose her bird and find no poet to commemorate the loss?', and recounting 'another Tragedy, still more deplorable by me, though it did not happen' when his dog Beau caught a piece of wood in his throat, 'he whined most piteously, lost all his vivacity ... for some time I actually believed he would die', 3¼ pages, 4to , integral address leaf, remains of seal. Samuel Rose (1767-1804) was a barrister whose close friendship with Cowper began the year before this letter was written. In 1804 he defended William Blake at his trial for high treason. Rose collected and published the miscellaneous works of Goldsmith. Cowper's poem 'On the Death of Mrs. Throckmorton's Bullfinch', first published in the Gentleman's Magazine , Feb. 1789, begins 'Ye Nymphs, if e'er your eyes were red With tears o'er hapless favourite shed, Oh, share Maria's grief!'. James King and Charles Ryskamp, eds. The Letters and Prose Writings of William Cowper , vol.III, 1982, p.228, quote only an extract from this letter from a Puttick and Simpson catalogue of 1 August 1856.