Jany 31t 1833
Thank you, my dear Talbot,
for taking such interest in Irish rebels like Rorie Ogie & myself. I shall be very glad of the book, which I have never seen, though I do know something of Rorie.<1>
Would it be bearing too hard upon your franking powers to-day to ask for three covers,<2> directed Messrs Davison, Lombard St. Whitefriars, London, and made postable at Devizes, not Chippenham.<3> I mean to parody, in your favour, the verses “Come, thou Goddess &c. <4> and make it
Come, thou Member, frank & free.
Ever yours faithfully
Thomas Moore
Henry Talbot Esqre
Lacock Abbey
Notes:
1. The unidentified book must have been offered in a now unknown letter. Otherwise known as Rory Og. In 1570, Sir John Harington of Kelston, described by Queen Elizabeth as her "saucy poet, my godson," had been sent to pacify Ireland. Defeated by Philim McPheogh, the poet explained "my cousin Sir Henry Harington, in a treacherous parley with Rorie Ogie, a notable rebel, was taken and conveyed to his habitation a prisoner." Sir John Harington, Nugæ Antiquæ, Being a Miscellaneous Collection of Original Papers in Prose and Verse (London: J. Wright, 1804), v. 1, p. 267.
2. As an MP, WHFT had franking privileges and was entitled to free postage. Members commonly gave signed covers or envelopes to friends. At the time, the recipient paid for postage (to ensure that the letter was delivered). This arrangement was withdrawn in January 1840 with the introduction of the Penny Post, which instituted uniform costs and pre-paid stamps.
3. The printing firm founded by Thomas Davison (1765-1830), who printed works by Thomas Moore and Byron. Davison and Moore had dealings in the years immediately preceding the printer’s death. Devizes and Chippenham were towns near Lacock and near Moore's home.
4. (no closing quotes) From Milton's Allegro: Come, thou goddess fair and free / In Heaven yclep’d Euphrosyne.