William Hone to John Childs, 25 December, 1819 An Electronic Edition William Hone Kyle Grimes

For publication in the Hone Correspondence section of the William Hone BioText, http://honearchive.org. The letter is published under a Creative Commons license, details of which are accessible from the BioText homepage.

transcribed and edited from the original in the British Library, Add. MS 41071, ff. 1-2.

 Edited and enriched TEI coding; transformed with custom xslt.
William Hone to John Childs, 25 December, 1819.British Library, Add. MS 41071, ff. 1-2. For a detailed, contextual reading of this letter, see the "Conversation" on the early friendship of Hone and Childs. [return] — -TEI-
45 Ludgate Hill
25 Decr. 1819 Dear Childs,

The aldermanThe "alderman" is the celebratory turkey which Childs gave to Hone annually on the anniversary of his 1817 trials. (See Hone's letter to Childs, 8 January, 1819.) [return] arrived with his honours thick about him and he now reposes in the stomachs of my Wife, Self, Eight young ones, a friend from Dorsetshire, old Joe Webb, & my wife's Brother: and we have this moment drunk the health of him who sent him—all the young ones are now about me cracking nuts & jokes and I am wishing you could see them and imagining that you are engaged in festivity of much the same kind. I drop you this line (omitting to do so yesterday by the gentleman who took charge of the books for you for I had friend Fry and another good fellow with me and I wished to know the day of the Fox dinner at Norwich before I wrote you, which I had not and opportunity of doing till I saw Richard Taylor, who tells me it is Monday the 26th January on which day, having consulted my pillow thereon, I purpose to have the gratification of seeing you, according to your very kind intimation—but as to the how & the "whereabout" I shall take your opinion. I wish to see some of your good fellows.

Business Oldham Inquest — out on Thursday next Bentham's Panopticon — out of print From J. E. Taylor I have had a satisfactory letter The Trials—curse 'em I wish they were done—they shall be—see an Advt of mine (announcing the withdrawal of my letter to Copley) in the Chronicle [ye]sterday & on Monday next End of business

One of the greatest pleasures I expect is from seeing Mr EdwardsAnn Bowden points out that this is a "shocker" for Mr. Edwards is likely George Edwards, a government agent and provocateur who was at this time agitating among the radical community. Edwards was one of the figures behind the Cato Street Conspiracy of February 1820. [return]—but on a full stomach & from a little strain of the head in writing a Carol this morning to go with the "moon"i.e. A Political Christmas Carol, a seven stanza satirical parody that can be sung to the tune of "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen"; the Carol was, as Hone notes, published along with The Man in the Moon. [return] I am so miserably stupid that I cannot tell you more than that my wife desires her kindest respects to Mrs. C. as I do & she requests me to tell you that she will take care to remind Mr. Fry to remind &c. [one word illegible] it.

I am My dear Childs Sincerely &, by & by, industriously, Your friend W Hone

[Addressed:] Mr. John Childs Bungay Suffolk