Dear Sir

Downing April 23^d 1789

Various occupations engaged me for some time after my return: otherwise I should not have failed to make enquiry after you & yours. I trust this will find you all better than when I left you. you must never give way to dejection but let us enjoy ourselves as long as we can by every innocent amusement. I drive off the evil spirit by writing & now my pen works with the vigour of thirty. I fling down that I use for the siege of Boulogne & the history of its smugl[...]ers &c &c¹ to catch up that dedicated to my friend Bull; & it now tells you to write a speedy account of y^r health and that of miss Bulls.² If their rheumatisms plague them, away to Buxton which may bring them so far on their road to Wales, & give us a chance of seeing you. Pray do not forget the state of the new river: among other particulars, I wish to know how many houses it has for tenants; & what parts of the town it supplies.³ But other news not relative to my labors will be very acceptable.

I am just on the point of going to Thanksgive:⁴ & then treat my numerous miners & colliers with Beef & ale; illuminations & transparencies: so that the rogues will think Loyalty a good thing & roar out ‘Cot pless Kink Shorge' till they cease to articulate. The truth is I alway give annual treats, only on this occasion add a little more. I must own I fear the event of this day; & tremble for the effect it may have on the head of majesty. If it stands the huzzas of his good subjects, I think we may ensure it the rest of his days.

Adieu
Y^rsmost truely

Th. Pennant

If you see M^r Storer or Sir W Burel Be so good as to convey [...] Complim^ts.

Moses thanks you a thousand times for y^r generosity. he hopes to return the 2^d work⁵ by oct^r. I trust to recover the money.

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Editorial notes

1. The first siege of Boulogne took place in 1544, during the third invasion of France by Henry VIII. A second siege followed during the Italian War of 1542–6. Pennant's interest in these events relates to work on 'Outlines of the Globe': VI and VII.
2. Elizabeth and Catherine Bull.
3. For Pennant's interest in the 'new river' and, in later letters, in the New River Company, see Of London (1790), pp. 196–8.
4. 23 April 1789 was a day of thanksgiving for the return to health of George III.
5. See 1079 (12 July 1788), where Pennant suggests that Bull return his copies of 'England and Schetland' for further embellishing by Griffith. One of these may be the second work to which Pennant refers here.

i. This refers to a manuscript copy of Horace Walpole, The mysterious mother. A tragedy (Strawberry Hill [Twickenham], 1768). See 1085.
ii. This may be translated as 'to the Englishman' or 'in the English manner', or alternatively be seen as a reference to Benjamin Langlois (1727–1802), MP for St. Germans, Cornwall, 1768–80. Hist P.