Dear Sir

Downing April 10^th. 1798.

Thanks for y^r favor of the 19^th past. Last week I returned the fine drawing of Bentan copied by the great Pocock fr^m one in M^r Hasting's collection. I thought it worthy y^r acceptance. I also add a dr[...]map of the Schetland & orkney isle a M. S. chart by moses it wants a few repairs which y^r skilful hands can give. The parcel is I hope by this time at Mess^rs Hodsol & co Bankers near Catherine street in the Strand & will be delivere[...]d to y^r servant on enquiring for the parcel left by M^r Panton.¹

Dafydd Bull² seems so contented with the taxes as to add to the weight by subscribing at all rates. Holywell parish raised about 460^£, & many lesser parishes lesser sums, but sums that amaze me. The Pennant's bleed freely & are the leaders of loyalty in this county.

The capture of the Margat traitors may be considred an act of Providence as much as the storm off Bantry bay at Christmas 1796.³ It precipitated the irish into rebellion before they or the french were ripe for it & I trust will be speedily crushed. The irish never fought well on their own ground but at the battle of Aghrim.⁴ I trust the bills at Maidstone are found before this hour.⁵ But to digress to another – subject. Pray who was the Lady who tore her hair on hearing that her son had behaved cowardly. I dream of Pembroke’s Sister, Sydney’s mother.⁶ & that the occasion was between the fray between the english & scots in the time of James I. Pray give me chapter & verse. I have read it but forget where.

our sincere good wishes attend miss Bull & yourself. Adieu
Dear Sir
Y^rs. most affect^ly

Tho. Pennant.

I have ^made a few retrenching rules for this house among others I prohibit during meals Hobbing & nobbing in wine & after dinner introduce with the wine the long neglected liquor of Cwrw da,⁷ leaving my guests to their choice. I do this without shame. to abstain from what is right,
Falsus honor juvat!⁸

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Editorial notes

1. This sentence (from 'The parcel is …') has been bracketed off in the manuscript text.
2. The equivalent for 'John Bull' in Wales, a coinage by Pennant.
3. A French invasion fleet approached Bantry Bay, co. Cork, Ireland, in December 1796, but were warded off by severe weather.
4. The Battle of Aughrim, near the village of Aughrim, County Galway, was fought between Irish Jacobites and William III on 12 July 1691. More than 7,000 were killed in a battle which marked the end of Jacobitism in Ireland.
5. The trial of James O'Coigly and seven others for treason was held at Maidstone from 30 April 1798.
6. Pennant's description of the 'Lady' he seeks is rather confused. He may possibly mean Mary Herbert (née Sidney; 1561–1621), wife of Henry Herbert, second Earl of Pembroke (born in or after 1538, died 1601) and sister to Sir Philip Sidney. She had three children, including two sons, one of whom was called Philip, who would have been alive during the reign of James I. ODNB. She was thus Pembroke's wife rather than his sister, and sister to Sydney rather than his mother.
7. 'Good ale'.
8. 'False honour aid(s)'. Pennant quotes from Horace, Epistles, Book I., Epistle 16, lines 39–40: 'Falsus honor juvat et mendax infamia terret / Quem, nisi mendosum et medicandum?' (Whom does false honour aid and calumny deter but the vicious and the liar?).