William Godwin: his Friends and Contemporaries
Ch. II. 1800
Thomas Holcroft to William Godwin, 13 June 1800
“Altona, June 13th, 1800.
“Though the attacks I have lately received of body and
mind have been extraordinary, yet surely I am not mad. Or if I were, it cannot
be that I am surrounded by none but madmen. I have not depended merely upon my
own judgment in the pictures I have sent to London. I consulted a variety of
persons, and, among others the best artists and judges I could find, two of
whom I may certainly affirm are competent to the task of giving an opinion. . .
. I tremble lest the impressions under which Messrs Opie and Birch may have gone to examine
the pictures should have led them to decline interference, and even suffer
pictures which cost here between four and five hundred pounds to be sold at the
Custom House to pay the duties. Surely this cannot have happened. I believe
there is a plain way of proceeding. Christie is not the only auctioneer. Cox
and Burrel are, or very lately were, men of enterprize.
Phillips might do the business
profitably, and he would undertake it with eagerness. . . .
“It is needless to add anything to impress you with a
deep ![]()
![]()
feeling of my present situation. I refer you to my
former letters. It is not a prison, it is disgrace, that I dread, and which, I
own, I want the fortitude to meet with any degree of apathy. I therefore
request you to proceed with the earnestness and expedition you have hitherto
used, and to let me know the result as soon as possible; for if it should be
that no man will advance money on these pictures, I must then try whether I
have not a friend on earth who will on my own credit and for my own sake
entrust me with such a sum till it can be repaid by the produce of my brain. I
am proceeding with the ‘Abbe de
L’Epée.’ ‘The
Lawyer’ shall likewise be altered and sent. I have written to
Robinson, as you are doubtless
informed by a note addressed to you and enclosed in his letter” [which
contained proposals for a German-English Dictionary], “and I am in treaty
with a German bookseller on the same subject. Were I a thousand pounds in debt
at this moment, allow me only two years, and I have no doubt it would be paid.
The fact, however, is, that unfortunate as my affairs have been, and gloomy as
appearances are, I have pictures in my possession, unless sold at the Custom
House, which, exclusive of duties, have cost me about six hundred pounds; I
have ‘The Lawyer,’ which certainly will
not take me a month to alter; I have the piece I am now employed upon, that
will be finished in less than three weeks; and you have the trifle, which, if
accepted, has a chance of concurring to raise supplies.
“The burns in my wrist and forehead reached almost to
the bone and skull; consequently they are yet far from cured. The pain of them
continues to be considerable, though such as may be supported with entire
calmness. It was the accident of having my spectacles on that saved my eyes,
and I feel rather as if I had obtained a blessing, than suffered agony and
injury.
“We are all well, these burns of mine excepted, and
the boy grows finely. No enquiries of mine can excite you to say a word of any
being whom I love and esteem, not even of your children. I know you have enough
to do with my damned affairs: however, notwithstanding their ill turn, you
cannot but receive the applauses of your own heart, as you do most fervently of
mine.
James Christie the younger (1773-1831)
Art critic, the son of the auctioneer whose business he continued; he was a member of the
Society of Dilettanti (1824) and a specialist on Greek vases. He was active in the Literary
Fund Society.
John Opie (1761-1807)
English painter brought to attention by John Wolcot; he was a member of the Royal Academy
and the husband of the writer Amelia Opie whom he married in 1798.
Sir Richard Phillips (1767-1840)
London bookseller, vegetarian, and political reformer; he published
The
Monthly Magazine, originally edited by John Aikin (1747-1822). John Wolcot was a
friend and neighbor.
George Robinson (1736-1801)
London bookseller who published the
Critical Review (from 1774)
and the
Town and Country Magazine.
