LETTER: Autograph letter signed, "H. Corp," to an editor, regarding her ANTIDOTE…
Corp, Harriet. Autograph letter signed, “H. Corp,” September 18, 1908; two pages.
Corp, an English writer of religious and didactic fiction, discusses her correspondent’s
“corrections” to her “Sequel” to her “Antidote” to John Beresford's “Miseries of Human Life', and
her knowledge of the religious practices of “friends” (Quakers).
According to the Orlando Project, Corp is “a notable example of a writer who missed out on
financial profit although her works achieved popularity,” her work showing a “striking talent and
intelligence, as well as a strong interest in the spiritual and material condition of the poor.”
Her “Antidote” to Beresford's “Miseries of Human Life', subtitled “In the History of the Widow
Placid, and her Daughter Rachael', appeared in 1808 (two years after Beresford's book) and her
“Sequel to the Antidote” in 1809. The recipient of this letter is unnamed, the letter beginning:
“Sir, | I am extremely obliged by your remarks on the Sequel to Antidote and much regret they
did not reach me in time to avail myself of them in the second edition, being conveyed to me only
last week. Should the work be reprinted, which from its favorable reception there is reason to
hope, your corrections shall be scrupulously attended to.” Having “seen friends at different places
of worship, and read in the life of Mr. Westley[sic] of their frequent attendance on his ministry',
she “had not the slightest idea that Mrs. Placids conduct[i.e. the conduct of the chief character in
her book] in that particular, could be deemed reprehensible.” She is “loth to alter it, because the
liberality of her sentiments (as it is termed by most readers) in that part of the bo has met with
great commendation', but it will be “expunged” if it is “decidedly contrary to the practice of
friends.” In conclusion she asks whether the recipient is responsible for “the anonymous hints
before sent me', and in a postscript she explains that she has “taken the liberty of keeping the bo
sent for my own convenience in revising.”
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