Part No. 14 - Letter from George Burrell to Dawson Turner

1 folded sheet

Transcript

Liverpool Jan[uar]y 15. 1818.

My Dear Sir.

I hardly know how to express in adequate terms my sensations on receiving your very friendly letter, and if upon former occasions I have not known how to address you, what must I now do, when the weight of obligation is increased by an act of generosity as great as it was unexpected. I feel a conviction that your letter demanded an earlier notice, but although I have frequently begun a reply, I could never sufficiently master my feelings as to be able to conclude it, and though I am now renewing the attempt, the same obstacles present themselves, and I feel the inability of any language to thank you as I ought, but believe me, my dear Sir, although my tongue expresses but little, or my pen continue un-employed, my heart is filled with a gratitude which nothing can diminish, nor the most protracted period of human life destroy.—I can only offer you, the most sincere and grateful thanks of two beings, placed by you in a comfortable and respectable situation, who acknowledge with gratitude how large a portion of their present happiness is derived from you, and whose minds you have now restored to tranquility† from a state of severe and oppressive anxiety;—at the same time, be assured, that should my circumstances ever become more prosperous than they now are, I will seize the earliest opportunity of discharging that part of the debt it will be possible for me to repay.—Our thanks are also due to you, for the very excellent advice you are kind enough to give us, and I assure you, it is in perfect conformity to the plan we had adopted, and which we are resolutely determined to adhere to. Since we have been in Liverpool, we have not incurred a single debt, nor do we intend it; our Income thought small, is certain, and no temptation shall induce us to exceed it. I am blest with an excellent and invaluable wife whose disposition would lead her to oppose me, were I to entertain any extravagant or expensive ideas. I am gradually increasing my acquaintance with the Proprietors who treat me with great respect, and I may say with great truth my situation is much more comfortable than I had any reason to suppose it would be.—I did not receive your letter till the day after I had given the parcel to Mr Roscoe, which I hope you have by this time received safe. I have requested my brother to forward to you a copy of the Charities of Thetford, and am sorry it is not better worth your acceptance; my father has repeatedly expressed a desire to see you, and shew you his curiosities, and I am sure he would have great pleasure in so doing; he is a singular character, but I find that distance and seperation† have restored to his mind those feelings of parental affection which I once feared he had entirely forgotten. I enclose your autographs of Dr Currie and Gilbert Wakefield; the father of Mr Koster, whom I know, is not in Town, but as soon as he returns I will procure an autograph of his son for you. Should you have any duplicate autographs which will serve to illustrate the Decameron, I should be much obliged to you for them, and I will do all in my power to collect for you. The etchings you were so good as to give me in the summer have been much admired by several of my friends, could you favour me with those of Sir Jos. Banks and Mr Miller, those you gave me I have parted with, and they would come very well into the Decameron. I enclose you two or three specimens of Mr Clements’s engraving, he is a steady deserving young man, but his abilities require a large sphere of action, and better encouragement than the fine arts receive in Liverpool. At your leisure I hope you will occasionally favour me with a letter, and with my best respects to Mrs Turner and family

I remain Dear Sir | Yours most gratefully and truly
Geo Burrell—

If the Catalogues meet your approbation I hope you will soon employ me again, in a similar, or in any other manner.

[Direction:] Dawson Turner Esq | Yarmouth.

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No marks of posting. Letters missing from a word abbreviated by a superscript letter have been supplied in square brackets.

{1} Burrell’s Account of the Gifts and Legacies that have been given and bequeathed to Charitable and Public Uses in Thetford, published in 1809.

† Sic.

Pasted to a guard in O.13.15.

This description was created by Kate Stockwell in 2022.