Arnall, William Letter to Eustace Budgell London 1730
[Arnall, William, attributed author.] A letter to Eustace Budgell Esq. Occasioned by his late complaint to the King, against Sir Robert Walpole. With proper remarks on his speech at court, his Letter to the Craftsman, his poem to the King, and other extraordinary proceedings. London: printed for J. Peele, 1730. 35 pp. 8vo, disbound. First edition. A reply to a pamphlet by Budgell which had to do with the critical reaction to a poem he had written about the King's expedition to Cambridge and Newmarket (Foxon B557), and his rather mad attempt to petition the King to remove Walpole from public office. Budgell's eccentricity captured the public imagination, and his pamphlet quickly went through eight editions. His Grub-Street colleagues found him a source of entertainment at this period, but the government was not amused; this rather severe rebuke, describing Budgell as "mad and distracted," is signed "R. M." at the end, but the authorship is commonly credited to William Arnall, one of the most active of the pamphleteers in the pay of Walpole's ministry. A fine copy of a scarce tract; the ESTC (on-line, 03/01) lists 12 locations (L, ABu, C, Cq, E, O, Owo; CtY-BR, IaU, KU-S, MB, PPL).
£200
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