Letter addressed to Bridget Hyde pleading that she use her rights to make him a Freeman of the City of London [manuscript].

England, March, 1675.

1 item ; [x] x [x] cm

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This is a PRELIMINARY RECORD. It may contain incorrect information. Please email catalog@folger.edu for assistance.

Great Britain -- England.

FAST ACC 272062 (3)

Ordered from:Christopher Edwards, D9430, 2020-12-08 at Sotheby's Auction "English Literature, History, Science, Children’s Books and Illustrations", 8 December 2020, London, Lot 6 (three letters). From dealer's description: "Autograph letter signed, to Bridget Hyde, pleading that she use her rights to make him a Freeman of the City of London, in a calligraphic hand, red ink, 1 page, with decorated address leaf incorporating a crown, heightened in gold and blue ink, 31 March 1675, framed and glazed. FINE EXAMPLES OF RESTORATION CALLIGRAPHY. Joshua Bowes wrote a number of verses in a calligraphic hand - at least another half-dozen are recorded - but very little of his work was consigned to print. He worked closely with Elkanah Settle, another poet closely connected to the City of London who, like Bowes, regularly offered verses to potential patrons. In 1682 Bowes was prosecuted for a libel against the Duke of York but he told the authorities that he was simply circulating copies of work by Settle to leading Whigs, at Settle's instruction. Settle was never prosecuted and this affair does not appear to have ruined the men's relationship as a copy of Settle's poem in praise of the Act of Union, Carmen Irenicum (1707), with an additional manuscript epistle by Bowes, came to light in 2014 (See Bernard Quaritch, English Books and Manuscripts, Autumn 2014, item 75) These three items are addressed to members of London's mercantile elite. Sir Robert Vyner (1631-1688) was one of the leading bankers of Restoration England. Bridget Hyde was his step-daughter and a considerable heiress in her own right through her father, Sir Thomas Hyde of Aldbury in Hertfordshire.

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