TO THE
Gentlemen, Clergy, Yeomanry
AND
AND
FREEHOLDERS
OF THE
County of Devon.
of Exeter. Your EARLY appearance on that day
will be essentially important.
Offers of support from every part of the County
excite my warmest gratitude, and encourage me
to solicit earnestly the personal atttendance
of my friends on the DAY OF NOMINATION,
fixed by the High Sheriff for Saturday the Eleventh
day of May, at
of Exeter. Your EARLY appearance on that day
will be essentially important.
My delay PERSONALLY
to acknowledge favours never to be effaced
from recollection,–my unintentional omission
to address EVERY Freeholder in this extensive
County,–must be attributed to the haste and
confusion of the moment, and, more than all,
to my peculiar domestic circumstances.
I have the honour to be,
with the greatest respect,
GENTLEMEN,
your devoted humble servant,
Edmund Pollexfen Bastard.
I have been staying in a holiday cottage in Devon, UK, where this letter was framed on the wall. Underneath was the description: ‘This letter, dated 1816, the year after the Battle of Waterloo, fell down from behind the living room mantelpiece when the Old Rectory was being restored.’ It was sent from ‘COMMITTEE-ROOM, Gandy’s Street, Exeter, 29th April 1816’. I’ve tried to recreate the drama of the emphatic styling from the original letter. Submitted by Gabriel Smy.
Verbatim Poetry 