Parte No. 82 - Copy of a letter from William Upcott to Dawson Turner

1 folded sheet

(Transcript by Turner. At the head is written, ‘The original is among Autographs, Series A’.)

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Transcript

London Institution.
June 20. 1816.

My dear Sir,

Most of us have our Hobbies: we are poor creatures without them. Mine have capered me through many a quagmire, and have led me many a dance to the tune of “Empty Pockets” more than once; have galloped me into half the Sale Rooms of this overgrown Metropolis, as well as in the Printsellers, Booksellers, Coindealers, and I know not how many other dealers besides, till I have been jaded with the ride & almost pennyless from the pursuit. But n’importe has been my motto, and may so continue even to the end of the chapter. Have you a wish to know what produced this ceaseless thirst for accumulation that to my cost has filled up all my heretofore spare room, and has removed from my sight too many a favorite Henry Hase? {1} I’ll e’en till tell you the plain unvarnish’d tale. When a mere urchin, scarcely three feet high, a curious pair of carved bellows dated 1594, were given to me, because being {2} very much struck with the singularity of their form, & the oddity of the figures cut thereon,—round the edge was inscribed this apposite couplet:

“Bellows, like a quiet Wife,
“Sends out breath, & makes no strife.”

I was as proud of my treasure, as is a Lord Mayor of his gilded coach: & they were preserved with the greatest care, & exhibited only on highdays & holidays.—When I came to London for the first time, now nearly 20 years {3} agone, they were consigned to a relative with a few other trifles, who, to use a homely phrase, had just about as much relish for these matters, “as, {4} a Cow has for a new Shilling”. The consequence was, when I made enquiry about my favorites, I received the melancholy tidings, “that the poor Bellows, worn out with age, were consigned to the flames; & the remaining odds & ends were scattered and lost.” Though never to become possessed of my old favorites more, while in my possession they certainly kindled such a flame within me, such an ardor was blown up, as, I much fear, will eventually reduce me to a Crater, or cease only with myself. I well remember that, when at school, the Provincial Halfpence were getting much into circulation. Wilkinson’s Iron works & the Anglesea Mining Company took the lead. I was much struck with the ingenuity of some of the devices & a longing to form a collection of them. Confined to a Schoolroom, my opportunities were of course very limited: my wits were at work to devise means to carry my plan into execution; & at length I hit upon one which partly succeeded. I employed my playmates for the purpose. The Grocers’ Shops, Public houses and every place likely to further my object were resorted to; & Time crowned me the Hero of Collectors within the four walls of a Country School-Room. My Cabinet, aliàs a strong canvas bag, was visited by those around me, as one containing Gems of the first water, & in idea, I sprang up from four feet to six; & the letter I soon became the greatest in the Alphabet; for there was none great than I, no, not one.

This mania lasted thro’ three or four succeeding years after coming to London, & produced indescribable pleasure. Indeed, words cannot convey the delight afforded me whenever chance threw any in my way which were not already in my possession. Whole nights have I sat up arranging & comparing; & the leisure moments by day have been devoted in visiting the various shops from one end of London to the other: in short, no pursuit did I ever take up with more ardor, or continue with more steadiness, than the collecting of Provincial Coins; but that ardor is now completely burnt out. The whole mass of coins, more than 2000 varieties, are now never looked at; so that they, together with a volume of more than 300 pages, which I compiled & wrote fairly out on the subject, are at this time lying buried amongst the rubbish in some one of my drawers. Sic transit gloria mundi! Another Hobby soon supplied its place. Seventeen years ago an elderly gentleman who had taken a fancy for some of [my] {5} whims, started the idea of collecting Portraits; &, as a bait to draw me into the snare, gave me a few specimens with this motto “that a long line commences at a point, & that a Giant was once a Dwarf”; which was as much as telling me I might as well spend my money in this way as in any other. Alas! this tempting bait proved too delicious to withstand. I swallowed it eagerly, & to this day have not been able to disgorge it. Poor man! he is gone to the world of spirits; but could he now witness the truth of his remark, he would find that the small point had run out to a considerable length, & that the puny dwarf is growing fast to a giant. I was saying that my collection in copper is grown into disuse: in fact, Silver Coin has ousted them; nay, has so much taken the lead that the poor Rider has been woefully crippled in distancing the more humble Copper. Indeed the Hobby has become so much galled in the chace, that I found it necessary to lay it up in Ordinary {6} for a more propitious season.

To these Bedlamite pursuits I must forsooth add another or two. Like my neighbors I must possess a few rare books, also a sprinkling of Bibliography, & that at a time when I have an hourly access to one of the finest public libraries. What strange infatuation! Besides, my spare hours must likewise be filled up in using my Prints in a way that Maniacs term illustrating. {7} Such a scheme was ever a fund of amusement; for whenever opportunities offered. {8} I was turning over the portfolios of printsellers by day, & inlaying such prints as were too small for my purpose by night {9}. By degrees, I had got together a few volumes that please me even now to turn over: viz: Cowper, Gray, life of Garrick, &c. The only volume I parted from, was an edition of Goldsmith’s Poems, having a number of additional plates. I observed it some time since in one of Longman’s Catalogues. This propensity in some measure still continues: at least, I feel a desire to complete the tasks long since begun; such as Reynolds’s Life by Northcote, Edwards’ Anecdotes of Painters, Life of Romney, a MS Life of the late Ozias Humphrey {10} in Folio, dictated by himself & written by me, containing Proofs, etchings & plates in every stage, engraved from his pictures, altogether unique of its kind.

The disease, however, that has the strongest hold of my inclinations is the Autographic Mania. Had it seized me earlier, ’twould have saved me many a pound, as well as being the possessor of more considerable specimens than I own. Even those lying by me present a chaos not to be described; & when they are to be arranged I know not. ’Tis a whimsical Hobby this; but experience teaches me that I am not a solitary instance of being a sufferer from this malady. Your kind letter announces its arrival at Yarmouth, & that it has taken up its abode on the Quay: {11} this I know, ’tis a Hobby, & a good one too; because it is attended with little expence. I prefer it to all other Hobbies, & have rode it further without accident, save & except a few disappointments after the most faithful promises from my various friends to assist me. Most happy shall I be at all times to give your’s a feed at my Manger; but I too much fear that it has been long used to choicer fare than my stable will produce, tamely to submit to such sorry provender. However, let me entreat you to take the will for the deed, to pardon this rambling Hobbyhorsical farrago, to make my respectful compliments to your family, & to believe me to remain, with great truth,

Most sincerely & most faithfully your’s
Wm Upcott

[Added at the head:] The original is among Autographs, Series A.

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Most of the marks printed as full stops resemble short dashes. The printed text of this letter is referred to below as G.

{1} i.e. banknote. Hase was cashier of the Bank of England from 1807 to 1829.

{2} In place of ‘being’ G has ‘I was’.

{3} ‘20 years’ has been altered from something else, rendering the second figure a little indistinct, but ‘20’ was evidently the number intended, and ‘twenty’ was printed in G. Upcott left Oxford for London early in 1797.

{4} Opening inverted commas supplied. They appear here in G.

{5} Omitted by mistake. The preceding word is at the end of a line. The word appears in G.

{6} A naval term, referring to the decommissioning of ships.

{7} i.e. grangerising.

{8} The punctuation mark after ‘offered’ appears to be superfluous. There is no mark here in G.

{9} i.e. inserting prints into spaces cut in larger pages. See OED, inlay, v. 2b.

{10} Ozias Humphry was Upcott’s father.

{11} ‘Yarmouth’ and ‘Quay’ were omitted from G.

Pasted to a guard in O.13.12.

The text of this letter was printed, shortly after Upcott’s death, in the May 1846 issue of the Gentleman’s Magazine (pp. 474–6), without the details identifying Turner as the recipient, having been sent to the editor with a letter, also printed, subscribed ‘A.B.’ The identity of this writer is unknown, but it may be observed that he or she refers to Dawson Turner in the third person.

This description was created by A. C. Green in 2022.