They probably appeared in the newspaper at some date between
1769, when the picture was painted, and August 1771, when
'Little Comedy' was married, after which time Goldsmith would
scarcely speak of her except as 'Mrs. Bunbury' (see p. 132, l.
15).
LETTER IN PROSE AND VERSE TO MRS. BUNBURY.
This letter, which contains some of the brightest and easiest of
Goldsmith's familiar verses, was addressed to Mrs. Bunbury (the 'Little
Comedy' of the 'Verses in Reply to an Invitation to Dinner', pp. 250-2),
in answer to a rhymed summons on her part to spend Christmas at Great
Barton in Suffolk, the family seat of the Bunburys. It was first printed
by Prior in the 'Miscellaneous Works' of 1837, iv. 148-51, and again in
1838 in Sir Henry Bunbury's 'Correspondence of Sir Thomas Hanmer,
Bart.', pp. 379-83. The text of the latter issue is here followed. When
Prior published the verses, they were assigned to the year 1772; in the
'Hanmer Correspondence' it is stated that they were 'probably written in
1773 or 1774.
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