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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 December 2024
Catherine Horneck, ‘Little Comedy’ as Goldsmith called her (see Letter 22, n8), married Henry Bunbury in 1771. They resided at Barton Hall, Great Barton, Suffolk. Goldsmith here responds to an invitation to visit. Her verse letter of invitation is preserved in a contemporary copy, in a hand resembling Edmund Burke’s, and is held at the Free Library of Philadelphia. It is reproduced here in full:
I hope my good Doctor you soon will be here
And your Spring velvet coat very smart will appear
To open our Ball the first day of the year
And bring with you a wig that is modish & Gay
To dance with the Girls that are makers of Hay
Tho of Hay we dont often hear talk in these times
Yet it serves very well towards making of rhimes
My Sister will laugh at my rhimes about Hay
Yet this I am sure I may venture to say
That we all here do wish and intreat & desire
You will Straightway come hither & sit by our fire
And if you will like in the Evening to game
We’ll all play at Loo where you’ll surely get fame
by winning our Money away in a trice
As my Sister & I will give you Advice
Or if you would Shoot Sir we’ll lend you a gun
And Druid t’oblige will after Birds run
But if you like better to hunt o’er the Ground[s]
Mr. B----y’ll lend you so[me] v[ery] [g]ood Hound[s]
But these simple Sports to a fine London Beaux
Who doubtless is thinking of fashion & show
And whose int’rested friends all wish to detain
As they know very well what pleasure they gain
By keeping one with them they so much admire
And whose chearful Company always desire
Yet to leave these pleasures if he condescends
He will greatly oblige his very Good friends
The copy-text is the manuscript in the Morgan Library, New York. It was first published in Prior's edition of Goldsmith's Miscellaneous Works in 1837. A copy of this letter, in the hand of Bennet Langton, is in the Free Library of Philadelphia. Goldsmith's visit was dependent on Garrick's loan so the letter could not predate his acquiescence.
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