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Letter addressed to "Henry & Alfred Cope, Philadelphia" with "R.R. Cope" written below. Desribes a visit to the Bunker Hill Memorial while still under construction. The monument, begun in 1827, would be fully erected in 1842 as the first public obelisk in the United States.

Throughout the letter the author quotes liberally from other writers and sources. A partial list of identifications follows . “greatness sympathises with greatness”: essayist William Hazlitt, “The Indian Judges” “you can’t get a barrel of praties into a bushel basket”: aphorism, origin unknown “some are born to greatness, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them”: William Shakespeare, Twelfth Night “Tantaene animis coelestibus irae?” [In heavenly minds can such resentments dwell?]: Virgil, The Aeneid “Memory is mortal forgiveness divine” [this is perhaps a restatement of “To err is human, to forgive divine”]: Alexander Pope, “Essay on Criticism” The Biblical admonition to “turn the other cheek” may be found in Matthew 5:38-40 . “cold obstruction” [in reference to death]: William Shakespeare, Measure for Measure “Wellerism” [“a form of comparison in which a familiar saying or proverb is identified with what was said by someone in a specified but humorously inapposite situation” : from characters in Charles Dickens, Pickwick Papers (definition from Oxford English Dictionary) “No man is a hero to his valet-de-chambre”: Marshal Catinat or Madame de Corneul The watermark is as follows : J Whitman Turkey Mill 1839 On the last page of the letter, the following text is written in pencil, in another hand, probably that of E.S.C.: 2 letters of Chas. Tabor to Francis R. Cope - 1841 (F.R.C. aged 20 - C.T. about same age - ) C.T. had published in “L’Entreprise”, a seranade written by F.R.C. When advised of the theft F.R.C. sends another poem entitled the “Thief.” For a description of many of the geographic locations mentioned in the letter, see Newport and How to See It (Newport: Davis & Pitman, 1869) . A “fippenny bit” is a corruption of “five-penny bit, ” a Spanish coin worth half a real or 6.25 cents. It was called fourpence in New England, fip in Pennsylvania, sixpence in New York, and a picayune in Louisiana. (Webster’s Dictionary)

Annotated in pencil on last page: “Poem apparently alluding to Henry Hartshorne engagement & his loss to his companions.” “Miss B.” is probably Henry Hartshorne’s wife-to-be, Mary Elizabeth Brown (later Hartshorne) . The watermark consists of a B, under which there is an ornate crest.

Letter contains postscript by Henry Hartshorne written on August 29.

Written at New Bedford, Mass., on August 2 and Boston, on August 3, 1846.

Note in another hand: Chas. Tabor to F. R. Cope - 1/21/1846 . The letter contains Charles Taber’s original poem “man & consequently woman.”