$175.00

SKU: A01803 Category:

Description

Description: This two-page letter, likely written in 1847, is headed “Gunpowder Plot –1847–not as remembered in 1797!” The Gunpowder Treason Plot 1605 (remembered as Guy Fawkes Day) was an unsuccessful attempted regicide against King James I led by Robert Catesby and a group of English Catholics who sought regime change in England after decades of religious persecution. (Catholics could not vote in local elections until 1797 and in elections to parliament until 1829.)  Smyth asks the unnamed recipient to pursue his duties eagerly. He also draws attention to the workings of the Athenaeum, a London club of art, literature and learning.

The letter in full:  “My dear Sir,

Several L.R.Ss have been speaking to me on the approaching anniversary, –& I am charged to beseech you not to let the scrutriceeship (?) relapse into its former torpor. –Your Querist in the Athenaeum may be on the alert,–but it seems now generally agreed that the mode of Ballot is illegal,–& that the notice at the bottom of the bills, respecting the initiation is Jesuitical. It seems that under the number does not neutralize a Paper.

More when we meet, till when, & always believe me

Yours most truly,/W. H. Smyth

Autograph letter signed is written on the 7” x 4½” black-bordered front sheet of  folded paper.  Item #A01803

William Henry Smyth (1788-1865) was an English Royal Navy Officer, hydrographer, astronomer and numismatist. He is noted for his involvement in the early history of a number of learned societies and authored numerous books. His Bedford Catalogue, Vol II of the Cycle of Celestial Objects (1844), containing his 1,604 double stars and nebulae, became a standard reference work for many years and was reprinted in 1986. In 1845, he received the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society and then the Presidency of the Society.

Condition: Mailing fold lines, remnants of mounting on verso of blank sheet, generally very good condition.