No. 4.
MY DEAR SIR,
It was not but yesterday I receiv'd your's of yᵉ 21st July, as we had then two mails due from England, and much about the same time, or a little after you have dispatch'd it, my last (which was wrote about the middle of the same month) must have come to your hands, if it did come at all, for I cannot account for its delay, having desired my sister to have it put in the Post Office. I gave you an account in it of the several applications Holland had made on your behalf to Beard, relative to Woodward's putting Garrick in mind of you; the assurances we had got from Beard of his having acted according to his promiss, and the ignorance we then were in of its success. I have only the time to acquaint you now, that I saw Holland this morning, who told me of Beard mentioning in a letter he had lately receiv'd, that he hoped to have in a few days something to communicate to him about you. That he, Holland, is expecting this intelligence with the greatest impatience, and that as soon as he shall have received it, he will immediately do himself the pleasure of writing to you, in order to acquaint you of it. But, my dear sir, how are we to act in directing our letters to you? as I see it is your intention to set out from England after the 14th of this month. At all events I'll direct what I have to send to you at the direction you left me at your departure, and which I make use of now, in the supposition that you'll leave such orders that anything will be transmitted to you. I have likewise to acknowledge the favour of your former, including a column of the newspapers, for the communication of which I am most sincerely oblig'd to you. I find this account wrote with elegance, and that warm interest the subject requir'd, and don't doubt it will answer the intention it was design'd with. You see, my dearest friend, that our ignorance is the sole cause of our silence, and thus I hope you'll be persuaded to pardon it, and not adscribe it to ingratitude and oblivion, which are sentiments that will never find entrance in our breast; but, on the contrary, be assured that we wish nothing with more ardor then to see you happy, and to see you rewarded, as you deserve it, by someboddy else, it beeing not in our power to effect it, but by our repeated intercessions, which I still hope will have their effect. I must finish here, in order not to miss the time of the post office. Thus farewell, and remember him who is with the sincerest affection your devoted friend and servant.
August the 4th, 1775.
No. 5.
July the 16th, 1776.
Not only, my dearest friend, several little excursions in the country, but also our friend Holland's absence, who did return only since a couple of days, have prevented my answering immediately the very kind letter which you favour'd me with on the 18th of January. It gave me an uncommon pleasure to hear of you, after so long a silence, which I could very well account for, as I knew that you was again on a visit on the Continent. I understand that you did not follow your first plan of crossing the Pirrenean mountains, and going to the south of Spain, for else you would have received a letter which I directed to you at Madrid, a la poste restante, in September last, as we did agree. If it be lost, there is no great news in it, as it contain'd nothing material. It was only une lettre d'amitié, and an enquiry after your health, with a short account of our doing here in the usual stile.
I give you my most sincere thanks for the sentiments of friendship and affection which you honour me with; be assured of the most hearty return, not only from me, but likewise from our friends Holland and Foote, and of the gratefull sense we do all retain of your noble and generous behaviour. Believe me, dear sir, that it gives us the greatest pain and sorrow to hear that nothing has been done as yet on your behalf from Garrick's side, notwithstanding Beard's strong recommendations thro' Woodward's channel. Beard expresses his astounishment at it as well as Holland, and we are entirely at a loss how to account for Garrick's neglect, in not making you a return so justly deserved, and which can come from him only. I do not doubt a moment of Woodward having made all possible applications, and in that supposition, the critical circumstances of Garrick's own affairs, and the hurry and perplexity he has been in, can alone account for his behaviour. Holland desires that you will be assured of his esteem, of his attachment and friendship for you, and how much he wishes to convince you of those sentiments, nothing will be able to efface them out of his heart; and the same I dare answer for Foote, whom we have not seen since last summer, but who is expected here at the beginning of August. As all the hopes of renewing a theatrical entertainement are entirely dropt, you may easily imagin that Beard and Holland do but seldom correspond together, and yet only on friendly terms.