William Hone to John Childs, 5 November, 1839 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 from the original in British Library, Add. MS 40120, ff. 483-84.

 Re-edited and enriched TEI coding; initial transform using modified XSL.
William Hone to John Childs, 5 November, 1839. British Library, Add. MS 40120, ff. 483-84. [return] — -TEI-
Dear John
"Tomorrow never is, if not today" Time is, Time was, and is was Yesterday."

Teufelsdrockh Jun.rTeufelsdrockh — a fictional philosopher — is the focal character in Thomas Carlyle's Sartor Resartus (1836). [return]

"There's Cruden for one ear, and Adams for t'other, "And each is for both, as you'll have it so, — 'Bother'"

G Wither Jun.r For more on the references to Cruden and Adams, and to the word "bother," see Hone's letter to Childs dated 2 November, 1839. Hackwood identifies "G. Wither Jun.r" as the Puritan poet George Wither (1588-1667). [return]

"Celestial Scenery" — "No Church Rates" — come! Dick of the Kirk,Thomas Dick (1774-1857), Scottish writer on science and philosophy; among his works is a book entitled Celestial Scenery; or, The Wonders of the Planetary System Displayed.... [return] and "John of Bungay," come! Secession he, and Noncoming thee, At five o'clock this afternoon to tea. One lectured, last night, on Astronomy, Each talks, to night, on Nonconformity; On Leighton, Bestwick, Prynne, who lost their ears In Palace Yard, and left their blood and tears A Legacy to us.Alexander Leighton (c1570-1649), John Bastwick (1593-1654), and William Prynne (1600-1669) were all prominent seventeenth-century religious Dissenters who were tortured for their actions. [return] — not braver they Than him, George Fox,Likely George Fox (1624-1691), the founder of the Quakers. [return] the man of yea and nay, Of greater suffering, higher principle—he left The Hat to witness of him — Sturge anon —Joseph Sturge (1793-1859). For a rather cryptic explanation of this reference, see Hone's letter to Childs, 16 December 1839. [return]

In a tiny hand, sideways on the page. [return]Come at 5. I expect D & Dick of the same school.

Thine dear Childs W Hone

[Addressed:] John Childs Esq. London Coffee House Answer —Aye, or nay—