Dear Sir

Yesterday M^rs P. & I returned fr^m a jaunt to Leverpool. myself with the influenza came back not the better. but by dint of spirits I clambered over the slave ships; & can say no more to that terrible business, than that ‘We have a wolf by the ears.’¹ I am so unwell at present that I shall refer you to my M. S. Africa for my thoughts: they are strangely divided.

my Son tells me there are not to be had any heads of the eminent spaniards: Because they never had any till a Palomino appeared in the beginning of this Century. nor had they [...] was there any others till the time of Charles III. the present chief secretary of state is employing persons to copy the pictures of illustrious men in order to engrave them. But He shall search at Paris, where he may find y^r desiderata by other engravers.

By some accident I have mislayed y^r Letter. If I find it, & find anything material to answer, I shall write again.

I beg my best complim^ts to miss Bulls² & request you not to forget M^r Clarke of Newport: whose civilities I cannot easy forget.

I am
Dear Sir
most faithfully Y^rs

Tho. Pennant

Downing Aug. 23^d. - 88³

Please to give me notice of the time you make y^r short visit to London for I must trouble you with a commission.

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Editorial notes

1. Liverpool merchants were heavily involved in the slave trade in the second half of the eighteenth century, to the great material advantage of their town and its inhabitants.
2. Elizabeth and Catherine Bull.
3. The year was possibly added by a different and later hand.