BIB_ID
409818
Accession number
MA 4647.17
Creator
Dickinson, Edward, active 18th century.
Display Date
[1752 November 9].
Credit line
Purchased on the Gordon N. Ray Fund, 1989.
Description
1 item (1 page) ; 31.4 x 19.3 cm
Notes
A note in pencil on the first page reads "Nov. 9, 1752," though it is not known when this note was added or who added it.
Cleland is not identified by name on the letter, but internal evidence strongly suggests that he is Dickinson's correspondent.
This may have been a draft, intended to be copied from by a secretary, which could explain why it is not signed. The bottom lefthand corner is also torn, with some small loss of text.
Cleland is not identified by name on the letter, but internal evidence strongly suggests that he is Dickinson's correspondent.
This may have been a draft, intended to be copied from by a secretary, which could explain why it is not signed. The bottom lefthand corner is also torn, with some small loss of text.
Provenance
Purchased at Sotheby's, London, December 14, 1989 (lots 11 and 12).
Summary
Writing that the issue to resolve between Lucy Cleland and John Cleland is "whether that w[hi]ch she is disposed to do for you, shall be done in her way or yours"; commenting that, on the whole, the reasons on Lucy Cleland's side "must strike every body, & I think cannot be ballanced by any others"; attempting to bring John Cleland around to this: "What she Offers is a Meer bounty, to w[hi]ch she can have no motive but a tenderness for you, her insisting upon a particular way of doing it shews she is of Opinion that no other way can make it effectual. her judgm[en]t is undisputed, & her humanity cannot be questioned, especially in the present Case since it disposes her to do that for you w[hi]ch will very ill suit with her Circumstances. And therefore I really think you ought to submit to her decision, & beleive it the best for you"; explaining that Lucy Cleland is "fixt in her resolution" and advising John Cleland to accept this as final; adding "You will excuse my entring so far into this matter, w[hi]ch I sho[ul]d not have taken the liberty of doing, but at your desire."
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