Letter from William Smith, Bury, to Sir George Beaumont, 1818 August 5 : autograph manuscript signed.

Concerning the painter [John Jackson] who has not yet arrived; saying "Well, my dear Sir George, with thanks for your two last favors, I may tell you that the long appointed Wednesday is again pass'd & another approaching without any notice from Mr. Jackson. Great Talents make amends for trifling foibles, Ingenuity admires what common Honesty blushes at, & great Skill & Excellence laughs at want of Principle;" complaining about his failing to keep his appointment; adding "Of Mr. Jackson, as of a Gem long lost, think we no more? I hope neither He or any trifles will disturb the serenity & pleasure which the scenery of the Lakes will afford you and Lady Beaumont - We think of you daily & so yr Health;" commenting on several previous portraits of him and mentioning the Hoppner portrait; adding, in a postscript, news that Sir Patrick Blake had died from complications of the gout "...for he try'd all Gout Quackery of every kind. poison upon poison;" announcing, in an additional postscript written at the top of the first page above the salutation, the arrival of Mr. Jackson; saying "He is come - late last night without notice. He seems absent but goodnatured. I have sat three hours today & think He will make a good likeness. He likes Hopner's [sic] Portrait which you don't remember. I have endeavoured to convince him Punctuality to his Word will add to his Fame, & the contrary diminish it. We like him. He will finish it tomorrow."