Sancho, Charles Ignatius (1729-1780)

Letters of the Late Ignatius Sancho, An African

London

Printed by J. Nichols

1782

"I shall fancy myself amongst you about the time you will get this--I paint in my imagination the winning smiles, and courteously kind welcome, in the face of a certain lady, whom I cannot help caring for with the decent pleasingly demure countenance of the little C-- Squire B--, with the jovial expression of countenance our old British freeholders were wont to wear--the head and heart of Addison's Sir Roger de Coverly; S--tipsy with good will, his eyes dancing in his head, considering within his breast every species of welcome to do honor to his noble master, and credit to the night; and, lastly, my friend looking more kindness than his tongue can utter and present to every individual, in offices of love and respect."

I WISH I could tell you--how much pleasure I felt in the reading your chearful letter--I felt that you was in good health, and in a flow of chearfulness, which, pray God, continue to you.--I shall fancy myself amongst you about the time you will get this--I paint in my imagination the winning smiles, and courteously kind welcome, in the face of a certain lady, whom I cannot help caring for with the decent pleasingly demure countenance of the little C-- Squire B--, with the jovial expression of countenance our old British freeholders were wont to wear--the head and heart of Addison's Sir Roger de Coverly; S--tipsy with good will, his eyes dancing in his head, considering within his breast every species of welcome to do honor to his noble master, and credit to the night; and, lastly, my friend looking more kindness than his tongue can utter and present to every individual, in offices of love and respect.--My R--, what would I give to steal in unseen--and be a happy spectator of the good old English hospitality--kept up by so few--and which in former times gave such strength and consequence to the ancestry of the present frivolous race of Apostates!--Honoured and blest be Sir C-- and his memory, for being one of those golden characters that can find true happiness in giving pleasure to his tenants, neighbours, and domestics!--wherever such a being moves--the eyes of love and gratitude follow after him--and infant tongues, joining the voice of youth and maturer years, fill up the grand chorus of his praise.--I inclose without apology a billet for --: he well knows how prone I naturally am to love him;--but love is untractable, there is no forcing affections--but I, perhaps too quickly, feel coldness.--has a noble soul--and he has his foibles;--for me, I fling no stone--I dare not; for, of all created beings, I know none so truly culpable, so full of faults, as is your very sincere friend and obliged servant, [...]
(II.lviii pp. 138-40; pp. 201-2 in Carretta)

Visual Arts::Painting

Reading; text from DocSouth

Five entries in ESTC (1782, 1783, 1784). [Second edition in 1783, third in 1784.]

See Letters of the Late Ignatius Sancho, An African. In Two Volumes. To Which Are Prefixed, Memoirs of His Life (London: Printed by J. Nichols, 1782). <Link to text from Documenting the American South at UNC>

Reading Letters of the Late Ignatius Sancho, ed. Vincent Carretta (New York: Penguin, 1998).

07/11/2013