We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 December 2024
John Eyles is identified by Prior as Goldsmith's occasional ‘man-servant’ (II: 511). Nothing more is known of him. As Goldsmith was busy at this time writing An History of the Earth, and Animated Nature, it seems probable that he is asking Percy to bring the book referred to in the letter on his next visit.
The verso of the manuscript shows the date of the letter from which it was torn, ‘March 21, 1772’. Percy's journal has the following entry for 31 March 1772: ‘Mrs. Percy and I went to see Dr. Goldsmith and dined with him, came home in the evening’. If Percy did indeed retrieve the book from Eyles, this may be when he brought it to Goldsmith.
The copy-text is the manuscript in the British Library. It was first published in Gaussen's Percy, Prelate and Poet in 1908. In addition to the date noted above, the verso of the manuscript also includes a list of fish, notes for the passages on ‘cartigilanous fish’ in his Animated Nature: ‘Lamprey. Pike | skate or flat fish. | Shark. | Sturgeon | The sun fish | The lump fish | And the fishing frog. | And the sea snail.’
Honest John.
Give Doctor Percy, My History of Animals. Which you will find among my books.
To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.
Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.
Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.
