Autograph letter signed : London, to Mrs. [Mary Lloyd] Baker, 1803 December 23.

Concerning a local incident she has related to him involving the rescue of a child from drowning by a charcoal burner by the name of Richard Brooks and expressing his doubts in response to her suggestion that he adopt the story as the basis for a poem ("Madam the story must stand alone as you have drawn it and it is a serious question with me whither poetry itself can make it more truly interesting, except it could be poetised by one who knows the spot, and who knows in some degree the provincial dialect ... should I ever perswade myself that I have betterd the description by giving it the dress of Rhime, I hereby engage to send it to you immediately; but I have small hopes of success."); briefly discusses his work and recent writings, including an unpublished poem (later published in 1804 under the title "Good tidings, or, News from the Farm") on the subject of the smallpox vaccine and his friend and early proponent of vaccination, Dr. Edward Jenner ("I have some time ago busied my brain and workd up my feelings to a great pitch in poetically selibrating the great victory obtain'd over the disease that killd my Father; and in which your neighbor and my friend Dr. Jenner is so immediately concerned."); concludes with a reference to the health of his son who was "lamd with a swelling on his knee", and the approaching birth of his fifth child.