339a. George Bloomfield to James Burrell Faux, undated [late 1819/early 1820?]
339a. George Bloomfield to James Burrell Faux, undated [late 1819/early 1820?] *
Sir If you have time or patience to read The Enclosed you will see the terror poor Nat was in Lest the Critics should smell out he was a Taylor!! [1]
If my attempt should be thought worthy being sent into such hands what will they say of an superannuated Cobler A Cobler the Very Lowest of all Occupations by general Consent allowd it would smell of Wax of pauperism &c &c to so great a degree it might Endanger their Lives !!
your Humble Servant
Geo Bloomfield
To J B Faux Esq
Toward 3 Oclock
Well Street
The old Letter is of no use to me
Address: J B Faux Esqr
[enclosure 1—a single small sheet; same watermark as letter. Needle marks:]
Lines &c most respectfully address’d to The gentlemen of the Spring Company at Thetford Norfolk [2]
[Enclosure 2, on the same size paper as enclosure 1; a deleted section of a longer poem with the heading ‘General View of Summer &c’, page numbered 13, over a previous number 11: [3]
[catchword ‘In’]
[on the verso – prose notes in a more mature hand:]
I have often been of A party to go down the river our Voices or instruments were mock’d by Echo, that river [4] has that quality in a Great Degree, but its Shores are uneven and unwooded, and no Striking objects to gratify the Eye if We except Santon Cathedral [5] &c but for Clearness, sound, and Sharp, Sweet air, it is not excelled by any Water I ever saw—
[enclosure 3; in what appears to be George’s mature hand, on the same paper as enclosures 1 and 2, headed ‘General View of Summer &c’, page numbered 16, no side numbers.]
* MS: private collection. Date from contextual evidence: the letter enclosed verses published, at Faux’s instigation, in 1820 as Thetford Chalybeate Spa. A Poem by a Parishioner of St. Peters (1820). In 1827 Faux recalled urging George to attend the laying of the foundation stone of the new pump room in Thetford, an ceremony which took place on 13 September 1819. See Letter 412. In 1827 Faux considered forwarding poems and letters by George that were in his possession for publication in William Hone’s Every Day Book: this letter may have been one of these. See Letter 412 for Faux and the Every Day Book publication. See Letter 360a for George acknowledging Faux’s assistance. See Letter 80a for the 1802 letter from Nathaniel to George that this letter enclosed. BACK
[1] See Letter 80a for Nat’s 1802 letter expressing his fear that publication of his poems would expose him to ridicule for his profession of tailor. It appears that George was here forwarding Nat’s letter to Faux. See Letter 412. BACK
[2] A detached title page for a manuscript draft of George’s verses published as Thetford Chalybeate Spa. A Poem by a Parishioner of St. Peters (1820). The hand is rounder and more youthful than that of the covering letter. BACK
[3] Clearly a sheet taken from a notebook. Enclosure 2 features 16 lines of verse, with side-numbers of 270 and 280 indicating that these are lines 265–280 of a longer poem: perhaps from ‘Lines most respectfully address’d to The gentlemen of the Spring Company at Thetford Norfolk’ (they do not appear in the published poem Thetford Chalybeate Spa). The verse is in a rounder, more youthful hand than that of the covering letter. BACK
[7] The lines were published in Thetford Chalybeate Spa. BACK
