Inscribed
Honourd Sr / it is impossible for me to describe with what infinite / Pleasure we received your last most kind Letter, I can only assure / you, that we know no other Joy, equal to that we feel, when we / hear from our most dear Friends: your Letters are indeed so instructive, / so affectionate and so entertaining that they would delight / the most indifferent Person, imagine then the Effect they / must [cancelled] have on one, who have all my Life been continually / recieving new Proofs of your Judgement and good Sense / as well as the greatest Marks of Kindness and Affection; / How trifling are the Services (in my Power to shew my / dear Brother Georgy) compared to those I am daily recie- / ving myself from you, nay were they ever so great, I / should acquire very little Merit by them, as I think / it a Duty and Obligation, and not a Matter of Choice, / to shew him all the kindness in my Power, and ^beingmy / Brother; though were he no Relation to me, his good / Sense and good Nature would deserve from me more than / is in my Power to do for him, however, he may at least / be sure of the most sincere love & Affection for him - / You will find on the other Side a slight Sketch of my / Picture of Virginia, which I think will give you / more idea of the Disposition of the Figures, and the / chiaro scuro than anything I could have wrote, / notwithstanding it is so very slight and incorrect I desire / you will give me your Opinion with regard to the Composition / in your next, what you think may be alter'd for the better, / whether you think the story is well told, in short criticise me / without mercy, and let me know all yourObjections; I have / endeavour'd / to get a hue of Colouring very different from anything / you have seen of mine, or my Master Hayman's (I am sorry / to find they look on him with Contempt because I must / think him the man of Merit, tho' he is very difficient / in point of Colouring and Correctness of drawing, yet, he / certainly has Genius and a great Facility of Invention. / You may be sure I shall be vastly ready to putt in for / the Premium if you approve it, I have also been advis'd / to it by Mr Hamilton / a man of a great deal / of Merit who has gn / Encouragement in / history Painting from / some of our first / Nobility, he says it / is impossible, that I / should not get it, if / they do not object / against the Picture / being done abroad, I sho / be glad to know if that / will signify anything / and when the Pictures / must be given. / Certainly it would do / me great Service if / I could succeed in / this Affair with regard / to my Reputation - / and the hundred / Pounds would be / of Service to me while / I remain abroad / Pray let me hear / from them on this / subject. I have a Mind to get a Frame made for my Picture / here, for they make ^ them cheaper and I think better than in / London it may be made to take to pieces, so that it will / not be at all inconvenient the sending of it, besides, it / will^be necessary to have a Frame if I expose it in publick / I am glad you like the Copy of Poussin, I hope you pay'd no / Duty for, as Capt. Landerfield who was very much my
Signed and dated
Medium and dimensions
Brown pen, pen and sepia washes on laid secretary paper (320 x 205, image 140 x 185)
Hand
Nathaniel Dance
Watermark
crowned roundel with [illegible] Britannia?
Level
Drawing
Digitisation of the Drawings Collection has been made possible through the generosity of the Leon Levy Foundation
