Letter from Uvedale Price, Foxley, to Sir George Beaumont, 1804 July 10 : autograph manuscript signed.

Complimenting Sir George's verses, both as delivered by him in person and written down: "I now therefore confirm the opinion I gave you when & I were riding on the Dickey between St Albans & Woburn; that it is a most excellent supplement to Goldsmith. But this is not all; I have two female critics in the house, & as sharp a pair of critics as ever scratched an author, as I know by experience, & they both most highly approve; & I must tell you that after L[ad]y Caroline had read them, & had given me back the letter, she desired to have it again, & read them a second time with the same pleasure, & made a copy of them: & moreover they are to be written on a vacant leaf of Goldsmith's works in my very best hand"; mentioning encountering a Mr. and Mrs. Rice near Coleorton; saying that Lady Margaret has undoubtedly received his "Philippic on the proposed compression of the house" (see the previous letter, MA 1581.122); remarking on other changes they have made; adding "I perfectly agree with you that a pool so near the house should be dressed, & that the banks should not be left rude"; discussing the technique of "undermining" which he believes is "the only method by which you can artificially make a painter's broken foreground"; saying that he looks forward to visiting them and seeing "the effect of all that has been pulled down, & all that has been put up, provided always there is no compression, & that I can stand in the bow window of the drawing room, & see the best hill in the best place"; adding some minor criticisms of Beaumont's verses; copying down lines from Beaumont's poem with the changes incorporated and saying "You will be surprised when you open this letter to cast your eye on your own verses, but I hope will not be angry that your friend has attempted to garble & mend them."