In Cradock's Memoirs, he did not remember to what performance the letter below referred, but noted that it ‘seems to refer to one of his earlier productions’ (I: 224). The production can be identified as Threnodia Augustalis, written to be performed in commemoration of Augusta, the Princess Dowager of Wales and mother of George III, who died on 8 February 1772. The identification is possible from a letter from William Woodfall to Goldsmith: Woodfall was acting on behalf of Teresa Cornelys (1723?–97) who put on various entertainments at Carlisle House, and he commissioned Goldsmith to write the piece on behalf of Cornelys and Goldsmith had agreed, provided his anonymity was preserved. Woodfall wanted Goldsmith to collaborate with an Italian composer, Matthias Vento (1735–76), and wrote on 16 February to remind him of his appointment with Vento. This letter provoked this hastily written note to Cradock, postponing their engagement. Goldsmith's authorship of the Threnodia Augustalis's libretto, a piece of which he was not proud, was not known until it appeared in Chalmers's 1810 edition of his works. Goldsmith's apologetic advertisement refers to it as a ‘Compilation’ rather than a poem and makes clear it was written in haste. A printed version was advertised for sale at the door of the performance for 1s (Public Advertiser, 20 February 1772).

We can be reasonably certain of the date offered here. The Princess Dowager died on Saturday 8 February. Goldsmith could not have written this letter the day after so it must have been written on Sunday 16 February before the performance of the Threnodia Augustalis, on Thursday 20 February.

The copy-text is a facsimile of the manuscript in the Rosenbach of the Free Library of Philadelphia. The location of the original manuscript is unknown. It was first published in Cradock's Literary and Miscellaneous Memoirs in 1826. Balderston records, based on access to the original owned by A. S. W. Rosenbach, that it was addressed ‘To J. Craddock Esqr at the Hotel in Pall Mall’. There is no address visible on the facsimile.