Bad pen, and gouty fingers,
Poor Anacreon, thou growest old![351]
“Pall Mall, November 4th, 1794.
“Mrs. Abington begs leave to present her compliments to Mr. Webster, and to assure him that she feels perfectly ashamed of the trouble which she has repeatedly given him, and is now about to give him; but, indeed, she has so much dependence upon the goodness of his heart, as well as of his understanding, that she flatters herself he will forgive her committing herself to him, upon matters which require more sense as well as more management than falls to the share of the generality of her acquaintance. The enclosed letter will explain to Mr. Webster the nature of Mrs. Abington’s present difficulty, as he will see she is in danger of losing the fine picture which has been for near six years in the hands of Mr. Sherwin, for the purpose of making a print from it. There is not one moment to be lost, if Mr. Webster will have the goodness to undertake the business; and she begs of him not to mention the matter further.
“The picture is the property of Mrs. Abington, and given by Sir Joshua Reynolds to Mr. Sherwin at his own particular request, that Sir Joshua would favour him so far as to let him have the preference of the many artists who, at the time the picture was painted, applied for it to engrave a plate from it.
“Mrs. Abington begs leave to present her kindest love and regards to Mrs. Webster, and flatters herself that the whole family are perfectly well.
“She has this moment heard that all the armaments will now end in peace.
“To John Webster, Esq., Duke Street, Westminster.”
As Sherwin’s plate from this beautiful picture was published by the late Mr. John Thane,[352] on February 1st, 1791, and as Mrs. Abington’s letter to Mr. Webster is dated November 4th, 1794, it appears that the engraver retained it nearly four years after the plate was finished; so that, according to Mrs. Abington’s date, it must have been upwards of two years in hand.