The Cotman Letters 1804-1833

91
(pencil note) [Norwich]
To Dawson Turner Esq
July 1. 1826.
Dear sir,
I have been endeavouring to put my accounts with some order, but they have been kept in so wretched a manner that the task - like all I have done lately- seems hopeless. You have not been able, I am afraid, to lay your hand upon that between Messrs Arch and myself? It consisted of two or more foolscap sheets and was put with your keeping about three years and a half since. Should you find it I would be glad to recieve it in preference to troubling Messrs Arch. Alas , I now feel that Poverty and its prospects are not brilliant, nothing that gives buoyancy to the imagination, tis fool's paradise. Oh no, quite, quite the reverse. It depresses the spirits, clips the wings of imagination and extinquishes [[the]] all hope of Fame & Excellence. It serves one purpose - it makes us humble, for had I not duties to perform to my Family I would instantly seek the Hovel. For Bread & Water with a heart of ease is a paradise to what I have felt for years. I would thus shew the world that I have had enough of it.
Dear Sir, Respectfully your obedient servant J. S. Cotman.
July 1st 1826.
Dawson Turner Esq
Bank
Yarmouth.