Letter from J. W. H. Pritchard to Mary Anne Rawson (English MS 414/67)
I am much obliged
for the sight of the proof-
sheet, & think with you
that the Title of the verses
would hardly be complete
without the addition you
mention. I know of nothing
better than what you have
expressed -- "The Aged Slave
on finding that the period
fixed for complete eman-
cipation was too distant
for him to expect to live
to participate in its benefits."
As to the transposition
of the words "son" & "child"?
if you think it would be
better to make the alteration
I shall feel certain that it
will be an improvement.
I am persuaded that in
reading verses if on first
looking at them anything
appears uncouth, misplaced,
or awkward, it ought to be
at once condemned[?] or corrected,
for we may read the same
words ever so often as not
to perceive the faults which
were glaring at first sight.
I have read over the whole
of the sheet, & see nothing
to correct unless, in the
last line but one of
page 289, the word not
should be placed before the
word cheaply. In one
slave the triumph of the
the cause was indeed
achieved cheaply at the
cost of £20 000 000 & it
may be that Mr Ely refers
to that: but when I finish
read it I thought it possible
another sense[?] meaning
might have been intended.
I have been frightened by
the weather from setting
off to-day, & therefore shall
not now leave until Satur-
day. I am sorry on account
of your Packet, but I had
fixed not to go if the weather
precluded the possibility
of deriving much advantage
from the journey. As it is
I shall be in Nottingham
on Monday.
Dear Madam
Yours very faithfully