2

L 261

Dating would be probably somewhere near 3 July 1776, date of Lord
Dundonald's birthday. Register of Letters shows that JB recd a
letter from T.D. in March 1776 "for my signing the entail ---
agreable hopes of being at home some years hence." On 18 May 1776
he wrote to T.D. from "Lord Pembroke's, London". The Journal
(BP xii. 18) states that on 23 July 1776 he "had a letter from my
brother David which did me good."

Possibly this is a fragment of the 18 May letter and the lines
"pleased with this vi<sit>: not easy to put into w<ords>: -ness."
refer to his being in London.

*F. Brady points out that JB actually wrote the May letter on the 16th (J2). On the 18th he had left London. JB's date of the 18th is, then, the date on which he _sent_ the letter.

JB visited Auchinleck 28 May to about 11 June. So his reference
to "this visit" may be to the Auchinleck visit; "He and I" may
mean Lord Auchinleck. If this is so, the letter to T.D. may have
been written in June and T.D.'s which JB received 23 July was an
answer to it.
(continued)

VERSES. Verses and Songs copied by JB.

See also:

C 552 Boufflers, J.S. de. <u>Chansons</u>.

C 2475 Seward, Anna. Additional Stanza to "Blow high, blow law".

C 3170, 3171 Zuylen, Belle de. Verses.

M 227 Cumberland, R. Prologue to <u>The West Indian</u>.

M 228 D'Urfey, T. <u>Pills to Purge Melancholy</u>.

M 288 "Spoken Extempore on hearing of a young Lady's marrying a menial Servant".

M 324 Hamilton, Eyre. "On hearing that an old woman was smothered ..."