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4to, pp. [iv], 6, [2]; complete with half title and advertisement leaf; a fine copy; in modern marbled wrappers. First and only edition. This poem is attributed to John Langhorne (1735-79) both by old DNB (the new version is not so thorough in its listing of authors' works) and by NCBEL, but ESTC merely notes the ascription, implying a doubt as to the authorship. On reading the text, however, one can be left in no doubt about as to the poet's identity, because the poem commemorates a deceased wife and refers to specific places where the couple had lived: 'Dear, silent Partner of those happier Hours, That pass'd in Hackthorn's Vales, in Blagdon's Bowers!'. Langhorne and his wife Ann Cracroft had lived at Blagdon, Somerset, where he was rector, and he had first met her at Hackthorn (near Lincoln) when he had tutored her younger brothers. On her death in childbirth in May 1768, he had gone to live at Folkestone with his brother William (also a clergyman and poet): Sandgate Castle is very near to the town. This poem must have been written there very soon afterwards. One of the striking features of this poem is the vehemence with which Langhorne denounces a poet of a previous generation for his lack of truth: 'Hence, ye vain Painters of ingenious Woe, Ye Lytteltons, ye shining Petrarchs, go! I hate the Languor of your lenient Strain, Your flow'ry Grief, your Impotence of Pain.'. ESTC records three copies in the UK and 11 in North America. Becket and de Hondt were Langhorne's regular publishers, although he had at first been published by Ralph Griffiths, when he was a regular contributor to Griffiths's Monthly Review at the beginning of the 1760s. N° de réf. du vendeur 16367
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