DowningDec^r 2^d 1781

Dear Sir

I had the happiness of being brought up under parents¹ who instilled into me early, fit notions of the dispensations of providence. I am have in consequence been thereby enabled to rejoice at every piece of good fortune that has befallen us, & bear resignedly the bad: of which Heaven at present has been pleased to pour down a very large portion indeed.

I shall continue in the Country as it becomes a man who h[...][?a]s on him large dependencies: people who are not indifferent to my absence or presence. I rejoice that I have some amusements that at dtimes drive away the thoughts of our Calamities, & those amusements I shall doubly cultivate.

Bartollozi by dint of an attorney’s quil returned the drawings: one he had begun to etch: the others untouched. I hear a bad account of him.

Moses is working hard for you: but there is no finishing till spring: Pray remember you cannot bind up snowdon as there is a second part to appear. which I shall endeavour to bring out by Christmas. 1782²

I am
most faithfully
Y^rs

T. Pen[...][?nant]

P.S. I enclose a rough list of the drawings in vol. I. II. Pray return it after you have copied it.

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Editorial notes

1. Thomas Pennant was the son of David Pennant and Arabella (née Mytton).
2. The Journey to Snowdon (1781) was vol. 2, part I, of Pennant's A tour in Wales. Vol. 2, part II, appeared in 1783 (this also subdivided into 'The Continuation of the Journey' and 'From Downing to Montgomery and Shrewsbury').
3. A triangular mark.
4. A round stamp, only half of which is visible.