Newland Villa, Gloucester. - Committee stage of Milnes' Bill for penal farm schools; own scheme as proposed in Tactices for the Times [pub. 1849]; great value of such schools.
325 Portland Crescent, Leeds. - Sends a Memorial [no longer present] concerning his eldest son [Thomas William Nixon], a sizar at Magdalene College Cambridge; he works hard but needs support to complete his education; Yorkshire friends have mentioned Houghton's sympathy towards the less privileged.
2 Regent St., Rochdale. - Seeks recommendation to Alexander Redgrave for post of Certifying Surgeon under the Factory Act for the Rochdale district; present holder is no longer equal to the work; became familiar with machinery accidents as a medical officer at the Manchester Royal Infirmary.
4 Deptford Bridge, Deptford, Kent. - Must visit the sea owing to recurrence of complaint; has found a situation at £15 a year; vital support by Milnes and Lady Galway's Trustees; encloses letter from Mr Wyndham who gave £5 as a result of Milnes' testimonial.
Enclosure: letter, postmarked 24 May 1841, from Wadham Wyndham, MP to Charles Sager, written in 3rd person. Arthurs Club, St James St. - Now residing in London; can offer some financial relief. Pencilled shorthand on seal flap and back of envelope.
Pontefract. - George Smith is an impostor: alleged relatives do not know him; Muscroft has had no letter. With enclosure: letter from George Smith. Discusses business misfortune and ill health; needs funds for journey to Pontefract; relatives and contacts there; seeks Government situation for his son (the bearer of the letter).
Carlton, Selby. Information on John Grannan and other employees of the Inland Revenue.
Pontefract. - Opposes further grant; Government's attempt to regulate Catholic clergy will not succeed; salaries for priests would have to follow; supports political rights of Catholics but not financial support by the English:
Cambridge. - Seeks Income Tax clerkship vacant by death of Charles Thrower; almost penniless; Milnes' promise to help his mother's family; will he speak to 'The head of The Government' on behalf of a brokenhearted man'.
Market Bosworth, Leicestershire. - Dedicated his poems Forest and Fireside Hours to Milnes; sent three copies last year and has another in white vellum to present; publication expenses not met by subscriptions; has retired to native district on health grounds; hopes to start a school; has testimonials; hopes Milnes will recommend him; the venture will allow him leisure 'for wooing the Muse - making such devotion the pleasure & not the business of Life, as you once commended me for doing'.
Ashfield. - Her father read his paper 'A Historical Sketch of Warrington Academy' to the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire on 11 Nov. 1858; he based it upon rescued memoranda of the Rev. J. Seddon; can send a copy, or Houghton might care to visit; her father's own copy is embellished with interesting letters and notes about Warrington. Cannot send 'Use of Books to Working Men' as their only perfect copy is bound with other items; it was a lecture to the Tuckerman Institute of Liverpool on 14 Feb. 1855. Encloses two hymns [no longer present], a sonnet on Longfellow and one on Mr Green; her father did not wish them to be republished. No news of Allan yet.
Enclosure: Copy of Henry Bright's verse 'To Longfellow in England, 1868', "as it appeared in Mr Hall Caine's Sonnets of Three Centuries" [copy made 1884?].
Tiverton. - Thanks him for 'his' letter with the good news about his mother. Will 'keep (or leave behind me) this letter, in the hope that you may be amused some day by reading it'. Was very glad to hear of his birth as she knew it would make his parents and grandfather very happy; hopes to see him next summer. Signed 'Anty Ett'.
New York: Law Office, 20 Nassau St. - Has sent an American edition of Milnes' Keats through Putnam the publisher. Not sure America deserves the compliment Milnes pays it in the dedication, for 'the universal striving for wealth, too often leaves neither leisure no taste, for those treasures of English Literature, which we ought to prize...'; hopes Milnes' words will prove true with the passage of time, and that Milnes will soon visit: 'the voyage is nothing'.
32 Manchester Road, Huddersfield. - Sorry Milnes cannot attend soirée on 6 March: had hoped to introduce him to Rev. Edmund Roberts Larken, translator of George Sand's Miller [of Angibault]. Met Emerson at Manchester last Sunday and heard him read a paper on Plato; hopes to meet Milnes one day.
Grosvenor Square - Congratulations on engagement.
Bill due to William Whewell, and sent 'With Mr Whewell's compliments'.
Corfu climate, local costumes, acquired chartreuse from Florence for Eugene Sanford
Sidney Sussex. Process of appointment of the Harrow headmaster.
21 Grande Rue, Boulogne Sur Mer. - Remorse after sending letter last summer; encloses pamphlet [no longer present] on Hayti [sic]; would Milnes draw Palmerston's attention to his own copy? Bathurst's father Robert was the eldest nephew of Henry Bathurst, bishop of Norwich [in fact he seems to have been a younger brother]; he made a fortune in India and bought Bream Lodge, near Lydney Park; died there in 1822 [actually 1821] when Edward Bathurst was four. Describes disposal of estate. Bathurst's uncle Charles ran the Indian business but ruined the family and 'died of a champagne surfeit in 1832' [1831?]. Bathurst himself went to India in 1835 but was unable to recover anything; accuses James Weir Hogg and Elliott Macnaghten of profiting from Indian crash.
Travelled in India; sailed to St Helena and witnessed the exhumation of Napoleon: 'the massy chest unclosed, and behold - such was the skill of the embalmer - the features of the Emperor in all their well-remembered beauty; features over which corruption seemed to have no power'. Returned to England and entered Lincoln's Inn before obtaining Vice-Consulship at Copenhagen through Lord Bathurst; his labours there; accepted posting to Cape Haytien on Sir Henry Wynn's advice but was unable to obtain any details; criticises 'esoteric mysteries of the Foreign Office; problems in Jamaica and Haiti; expense of building and other privations; abolition of post without recompense; creditors include Copeland, who unfairly supplied an expensive crockery service; has snubbed Haytians but otherwise gained approval; has not asked for promotion but for reinstatement; pleads case rhetorically.
Enclosure: 'Copy from a manuscript of the Character of the late Robert Bathurst [Junior?] Esq. originally taken from the Cawnpore Advertiser' [c May 1822], copy dated 23 Dec. 1833.