BIB_ID
301617
Accession number
MA 347.11
Creator
Pope, Alexander, 1688-1744.
Display Date
[1718] Sept. 1.
Credit line
Purchased by Pierpont Morgan, probably in 1903.
Description
1 item (5 p.) ; 21.9 cm
Notes
Includes verse epitaphs for a peasant couple on p. 4-5. First line: "When Eastern Lovers feed the fun'ral fire."
Part of a collection of autograph letters, primarily from Alexander Pope to Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, and manuscript poems. Items in the collection are described in individual records; see MA 347 for details.
Year is from Sherburn's edition of Pope's letters.
Part of a collection of autograph letters, primarily from Alexander Pope to Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, and manuscript poems. Items in the collection are described in individual records; see MA 347 for details.
Year is from Sherburn's edition of Pope's letters.
Provenance
The Earl of Harrowby; sale (London, Sotheby, June 18-20, 1903); purchased by Quaritch; probably purchased by Pierpont Morgan in 1903.
Summary
Apologizing for not answering her letter sooner, and giving as reasons both that he was waiting to hear of her arrival somewhere and that he has "had a second dangerous Illness"; saying that he has "a burning desire to see [her] Soul stark naked" because he is sure "'tis the prettiest kind of white Soul, in the universe"; describing an accident in which two lovers were stuck by lightning and killed together; copying the epitaphs he wrote for the monument erected over the lovers; stating that he thinks the lovers who died together are happy.
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