Showing 13 results

Addressed to: Ephraim Whitman Gurney, Oliver Wendell Holmes [Sr or Jr?]; Theodore Dwight Woolsey.

Wallington, Cambo, Northumberland. - Expects that Elizabeth has returned home and that the weather is 'cooler & pleasanter'; it was fine yesterday for the school treat. Sir George has been out fishing twice, which is very good for him. Does not think there will be fine weather in the North for some time, so perhaps Robert will not stay so long; thinks September will be better than August this year and is glad Elizabeth is coming then. They are alone at the moment, but expect Mr Milnes Gaskell and his daughter on Tuesday. Hopes Janet [Ward] will be able to visit Elizabeth; she and George have taken a house in Chelsea and are very happy; their prolonged engagement obviously suits them. Is reading [Elliot's] "Daniel Deronda"; thinks it is 'much too long, and rather tedious', though some minor episodes such as Klesmer's 'talk about art' are very good; also has 'the last new Vol. of Le Gorce [?]' and the newspapers; Sir George is reading Meredith's "Egoist" aloud, which she thinks better every time she reads it. Hopes the negotiations [about the land and house at Leith Hill] are going well; asks whether Elizabeth and Robert intend to build themselves, or whether the V[aughan] W[illiamses] will build and let it to them. Sad that Aunt Margaret [Holland] is laid up for so long and unable to write. Asks how 'the little maid' is getting on, and Gussy [Enticknap]'s violin lessons.

Wallington, Cambo, Northumberland. - Glad to get Elizabeth's long letters; she and Sir George are very interested about the house, and Elizabeth seems 'to have a good hold over all the plans and details'; hopes a satisfactory arrangement can be made. Much will depend on the length of lease [the Vaughan Williamses] are prepared to grant; thinks there would be more freedom and less complication if Elizabeth and Robert have it built themselves, but she and Sir George think Elizabeth is the best judge; Sir George will look over the final plans if she likes and say if he thinks them 'wise & safe'. Delightful that Madame Grandmont [Bramine Hubrecht] can come to visit Elizabeth. They have just heard from Uncle Harry [Viscount Knutsford] and are very sorry that Aunt M[argaret] is still so ill; asks for news about her; wants to know if Meta [Smith] has reached Norway; must be 'very depressing for them'. Hopes the weather is better tomorrow when Mr Milnes Gaskell and his daughter come. They 'walked across Shafto' yesterday; Sir George has had two days fishing and shoots a few rabbits in the garden every day; lots got in 'when they varnished the gate' and needed to be exterminated. Hope that G[? George?, or Grandmont?] will bring the violin and that Elizabeth will 'like it and get it'; is sure it will be a joy to her. Charlie spoke at a 'great liberal meeting at Welcombe on Saturday', which seems to have been a success. Asks for the names of any interesting books Aunt Margaret has been reading; wants to get a parcel from the library before guests come. Glad Robert is all right and hopes he will stay as long as it suits him [in the Lakes] now Elizabeth has company; lucky she did not come to Wallington or go to The Park [to stay with Annie Philips]. Says in a postscript that it is a good idea for Elizabeth to send her girl [maid] to the dressmaker as it would be useful if she could do some altering and mending.

The papers consist of over 2000 letters written to Henry Arthur Bright from friends, colleagues, and family members arranged in alphabetical order. Principal correspondents include Robert Brook Aspland, William Robert Brownlow, William Henry Channing, Lord Charlemont, William George Clark, Sir Reginald John Cust, Charles Milnes Gaskell, Lord Houghton (130 letters), Charles Eliot Norton, and Spencer Perceval (b 1828). There are also letters from Hungerford Crewe, and the Hawthorne family, but not Nathaniel himself: Nathaniel Hawthorne's wife Sophia, and children Una and Julian. Letters to Bright's family consist mainly of photocopies.

The last box contains a few miscellaneous items: notes, an essay on ''The Characteristic Difference between Ancient and Modern Civilization' which was awarded the English prize at Trinity College, and a bound volume containing proofs of Lord Houghton's 'Notes on "Endymion"' and Houghton's introduction to the works of Walter Savage Landor in Thomas Humphry Ward's 'The English Poets 1880-1918, Vol. IV, The Nineteenth Centry: Wordsworth to Rossetti', accompanied by a letter and a note from Lord Houghton.