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I would recommend:
English Letters of the XVIII Century
Edited by James Aitken
This 185 page collection has much to recommend it. James Aitken was a Scottish Presbyterian cleric who spent a good bit of his career in New Zealand. He retired to Guildford and there he published this little selection of 18th century letters. He died in 1951.
Aitken opens with a brief but useful introduction placing the art of letter writing in its historical context. Then follows a selection of letters from fourteen authors. Each is given an introduction which generally informs the reader of the recipient, date and background of the letter. The selection includes letters from the following:
Alexander Pope, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, Joseph Addison, Mrs Delaney, Rev. Patrick Delaney, James Thomson, Samuel Johnson, Horace Walpole, William Cowper, Fanny Burney, Edmund Burke, William Blake, Charles Lamb, and George Gordon Noel, Lord Byron.
Aiken does well in his selections choosing topics which reveal the personalities and interests of the writers. Perhaps more basic information of the particulars of the political and social events could have been provided in footnotes. For instance, Fanny Burney mentions seeing “the Irish Giant”. The reference is to Charles Byrne who toured Scotland and England in the 1870s. He was advertised as being eight feet tall and was quite a success. Mrs Delaney in Dublin makes reference to some political activity which is never explained and Horace Walpole mentions the attempt of the Young Pretender to take the throne. He also refers to problems with America which are not made clear. Some footnotes would help.
Personally, I enjoyed the letters by Lady Mary Wortley Montagu especially interesting. She was a proto-feminist who has been called the Comet of the 18th century and was one of the most sophisticated persons of the age. Charles Lamb writes in a very engaging style quite different to that used in his famous essays. Of course Samuel Johnson is represented by his angry and contemptuous “Letter to Lord Chesterfield” but there is also the sweet gentle letter to his little six year old Godchild.
This short book contains a great deal of pleasure and is an engaging trip to the 18th Century.
So far as I know, there is no ebook available but it can be obtained as a second-hand Pelican paperback from ABE or Biblio.
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