BIB_ID
413991
Accession number
MA 1581.80
Creator
Price, Uvedale, Sir, 1747-1829, sender.
Display Date
Foxley, England, 1798 February 2.
Credit line
Purchased from Benjamin Ifor Evans, 1959.
Description
1 item (3 pages, with address) ; 22.8 x 18.5 cm
Notes
Written from Foxley, Price's estate near Yazor, Herefordshire.
Address panel with seal and postmarks: "London Febry sixth 1798 / Sir George Beaumont Bart. / North Aston / Woodstock / [from?] RP Knight."
In the letter that follows this one, dated February 17, 1798 and cataloged as MA 1581.81, Price gives the full text of the epigram that he mentions here.
This letter is from a large collection of letters written to Sir George Howland Beaumont (1753-1827) and Lady Margaret Willes Beaumont (1758-1829) of Coleorton Hall, and to other members of the Beaumont family.
Formerly accessioned as MA 2013. This letter was acquired separately from the main collection of letters directed to the Beaumonts and incorporated into the collection in 2018.
Address panel with seal and postmarks: "London Febry sixth 1798 / Sir George Beaumont Bart. / North Aston / Woodstock / [from?] RP Knight."
In the letter that follows this one, dated February 17, 1798 and cataloged as MA 1581.81, Price gives the full text of the epigram that he mentions here.
This letter is from a large collection of letters written to Sir George Howland Beaumont (1753-1827) and Lady Margaret Willes Beaumont (1758-1829) of Coleorton Hall, and to other members of the Beaumont family.
Formerly accessioned as MA 2013. This letter was acquired separately from the main collection of letters directed to the Beaumonts and incorporated into the collection in 2018.
Provenance
Purchased as a gift of the Fellows from Benjamin Ifor Evans, 1959.
Summary
Saying that he has heard that Edmund Burke's executors are collecting his letters with a view towards publishing them; writing that it "would be highly flattering to me that the public should know the favourable opinion he entertained of my book, & I should suppose that the editors would think a letter of his on a literary subject, a very proper one for publication"; saying that he has therefore enclosed a copy of Burke's letter to him for forwarding to Edmond Malone; adding that he does not want to part with the original, but if Malone suspects him of forgery, asking that Sir George and Lady Beaumont testify to having seen the original; suggesting that, to preserve Price's modestry, Beaumont could also lie and tell Malone that he himself had requested the copy of the letter from Price: "the fib certainly would not be very atrocious, but all depends upon the state of your conscience at the moment"; asserting that he has made the copy very exactly: "all the stops are the same as his, & I have even put capital letters wherever he put them"; responding to Beaumont's comments in a previous letter about an aspect of the picturesque ("the reason why the picturesque almost exclusively belongs to painting; with the advantage of the latter over sculpture"); saying that he agrees wholeheartedly, so much so that "I docketed & put it up carefully; & if you & I can but contrive to keep our heads on for a few years, & the island keeps its head above water you shall see what use I shall make of it"; mentioning that their friend the Marquess (probably Lord Abercorn) has had an accident: "He is in the habit of carrying pocket pistols, & in the frost he fell upon one of them, & I fear has hurt himself very much"; mentioning that, the last time he was at the Priory, Abercorn related to him a dispute he had had with King George over Price's book, "which his Majesty found great fault with, & said I was an enemy to all neatness & comfort; & professed himself a most zealous admirer of Mr. [Lancelot] Brown"; saying that Abercorn had defended him and asked the king whether there were not certain scenes where "roughness & wildness" were appropriate, such as forests; relaying the king's response, which was "'I should like to see all Europe like a place of Mr. Brown's"; adding that he has written an epigram on this incident, but he will not write it down, because of "strict statutes and most biting laws" (a quotation from Measure for Measure); saying that, if he thinks of it, he will whisper it in Beaumont's ear the next time he sees him.
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