Dialogue E E D N, First Edition (1 results)

Folio, pp. 8; in marbled boards, black morocco spine, manuscript title-label on upper cover. First edition? this is one of two editions, of uncertain sequence: one may be partly a re-impression of the other. In this printing signature 'B' is under the space between 'Cloth to' in the other, it is under 'Green'. The two variants are of equal scarcity. This poem is a satire on two flagrant political intriguers, Giles Earle and Bubb Doddington. Earle was particularly known for his crude jokes and sordid nature. Charles Hanbury Williams (1708-1759) was the son of John Hanbury, a prosperous landowner who had inherited his family's iron mines and foundries in Wales; he took the surname Williams in 1729, in anticipation of receiving portion of the estate of one of his father's oldest friends, who had made a fortune as a merchant in Smyrna, but had died childless. Williams was educated at Eton. He left school in 1724, and set out on a grand tour of the continent, from which he returned in 1726; after settling in London he became a conspicuous member of the smart set, and established a reputation for his wit. In 1732 he married Lady Frances Coningsby, a young lady of fashion with a considerable fortune, but the marriage proved a disaster. Williams spent much time away from home, and was a serial adulterer. By 1742 he had contracted a severe case of syphilis, and when at about the same time his wife discovered that she too was infected, she left him, never to return; Williams remained, however, on close terms with his two daughters. He first entered Parliament in 1735, as an MP for Monmouthshire, and he soon became a member of Robert Walpole's inner circle, along with two of his closest friends, Henry Fox and Thomas Winnington. These three were among the so-called 'good Whigs' who remained loyal to Walpole, and then transferred their loyalty to Henry Pelham. Williams never played a major role in Parliament itself, but developed a facility for writing political satire, with which he served his party's cause; much of his early verse is modelled on Pope, whom he greatly admired. He also wrote panegyrics, songs, love poems, and imitations of the classics; some of his verse was obscene, and Samuel Johnson once referred to him, intending no compliment, as 'our lively and elegant, though too licentious lyrick bard'. Williams was prolific, but he had a diffident attitude towards authorship; much of what he wrote was not intended for publication, but was meant solely to be read aloud to friends, or circulated in manuscript. His canon, as a result, is notoriously difficult to establish. A collected edition of his verse published in 1763 contains much that he had not written, as is confirmed by a copy in the British Library annotated by Horace Walpole, who knew him well; Walpole also left behind a manuscript biographical sketch of Williams, which contains much useful information about his writings. There remains an element of uncertainty, however, about a good many titles. The present poem is fairly typical of the sort of satire for which Williams is now remembered. It portrays as hypocrites two prominent members of the Whig opposition, who accused the Walpole government of corruption, but at the time indulged in the very acts they criticized. Williams spent his last years in the diplomatic service, especially in Prussia, but by 1758 his behaviour had become so erratic, and violent, no doubt as a result of tertiary syphilis, that he had to return to London, where he was eventually declared a lunatic; he died of a fever at Lord Bolingbroke's house in Chelsea. Foxon W479.