![[Jacobite Rebellion - Battle of Prestonpans] - Sir John Cope](https://media.app.artisio.co/media/104cbde6-0d38-43cb-9e0f-bb721ef57bcf/inventory/e9c54aab-dbe7-4e45-b75d-6ae776502fd1/3aa415cc-3bf6-490a-bc77-8e1f0f23fc10/0001_NzjHhL_original.jpg)
[Jacobite Rebellion - Battle of Prestonpans] - Sir John Cope
£260
Rare Books, Manuscripts, Maps & Photography
Auction: 17 May 2017 at 12:00 BST
Description
Two autograph letters from Sir John Cope to Lt.-General Thomas Fowke ("Dear Fowke"), sending news of national affairs "The eyes of all Europe are upon our Affairs in America, which 'tis imagined will draw consequences in this part of the World, for which wee are so formidably prepared by our natural strength, the Navy, that if Spain will but continue to think according to her old proverb, Peace with England & War with all the World, so far only...", expressing his desire (with a tacit reference to his unpopularity after 1745) ("I am just as desirous not to be employed, as those who could employ me are unwilling to do it, so in that we are perfectly agreed"), reporting that he hears well of Fowke's Governership of Gibraltar, mentioning "Mr paymaster Pit", telling him about the regime and life he follows at the spas of Bath and Cheltenham (... I find the company at Chiltenham is not very numerous, and by those you name none very entertaining..."), thanking him for sending him a fine Spanish horse, &c., 2pp & 2pp., St. James Place, 19 July 1753, & Bath, 8 July 1755
Footnote
Note; The first important battle of the rebellion was at Prestonpans on 27 September 1745 and this was a decisive victory for Charles over Sir John Cope who was Lieutentant-General, Commander of King George I's forces in Scotland. There is a paucity of knowledge about Cope's life after his Court of Inquiry in 1746. After he was defeated at the Battle of Prestonpans in 1745 he was the subject of the Jacobite song "Hey, Johnnie Cope! Are ye waukin yet ?" Autograph letters by him are very rare.