[‘you are much too young & handsome to be convenient’: Edward Jerningham, high-society poet and playwright, protégé of Horace Walpole.] Unsigned Autograph Letter, flirting with unnamed male recipient, and giving details of his relation Lady Stafford.

Jerningham’s entry in the Oxford DNB, states that he died unmarried, ‘despite habitual flirtations with young actresses’; the present letter indicates that the members of the other sex were not exempted from his attentions. 2pp, 4to. In good condition, lightly aged, on a leaf of laid watermarked paper, folded for postage. Twenty-six lines of text. Dated ‘1798’ at top right, with ‘From Edward Jerningham the Poet’ above it. Unsigned, but in Jerningham's distinctive hand. Begins in near-Wildean tone: ‘As I go to the new play, Reflection tells me it would be abusing of your goodness to dine with you to day, It would certainly be convenient, But you are much too young & handsome to be convenient, and so I will beg Leave to dine with you another time when I shall be able to enjoy the decious feast of your Reason and Drink the flow of your soul -’. The second half of the letter gives biographical details regarding Lady Stafford and her nephew’s three sisters, two of whom became nuns: ‘One of the nuns is still living, at her Death my Brother claims the Barony which devolves to Him thro’ his mother who was niece to the late Earl of Stafford’.