Thanks Whewell for his present. 'I am persuaded that you will be gratified to hear - that your volumes have been my constant companions'. Turner grew up on such compositions: 'The whole of the contents of your smaller volume are, with very few exceptions indeed, familiar to me in the original, and sufficiently so to enable me to appreciate the fidelity of the versions. Here too the notes give quite additional value ['Verse Translations from the German, including Lenore, Schiller's Song of the Bell', 1847]. In the larger volume I am less at home; its principal piece, Goethe's Herman and Dorothea, I never read before' [Whewell, 'Goethe's Herman and Dorothea', Fraser's Magazine, 1850].
Turner is sorry they could not meet when Whewell was in Norwich. If Whewell needs any help in writing the history of botany, he would be very willing to help.
Thanks Whewell for his pamphlet on the Newton and Flamsteed controversy ['Newton and Flamsteed: Remarks on an Article in Number 109 of the Quarterly Review', 1836]: 'I am not sure that I do not wish that you had rather been content to let the whole matter rest, and not combat a review, which is in reality very much like combatting the air, and where our opponent must always be on unfair terms, inasmuch as the poison, if such be, will penetrate in numberless directions when the antidote cannot follow it. The fact appears to be, that Newton, great as he was, was not exempt from the common set of humanity; that Mr Baily's [Francis Baily] publication necessarily brought forth the weakness of his character in a strong light'.
Adam Sedgwick informed Turner that Whewell would be coming up to visit, 'and that I might then look to see both of you in Yarmouth'. He went to a couple of Sedgwick's lectures: 'The fulness of his mind, the ardour of his spirit, the comprehensiveness of his views, depth of his knowledge, and the fluency of his diction are all wonderful'. Turner is pleased Whewell is working on something 'worthy of your mind, your knowledge and your name' ['The History of the Inductive Sciences, from the Earliest to the Present Time', 3 vols., 1837].
Turner is pleased to say that Whewell's portrait has arrived safely at Charlotte Jones's [wife of Richard Jones]. He thanks Whewell for the present of his 'Bridgewater Treatise I had read before' ['Astronomy and General Physics Considered with Reference to Natural Theology', 2nd edition 1834] and the 'other book' ['Architectural Notes on German Churches', new edition, 1835].
Whewell's company gave a great deal of pleasure to him, his wife and his daughter. Whewell should return from Edinburgh via Yarmouth - 'it is but little out of your way: the Newark coach will carry you direct to Norwich'. Turner will not let Whewell leave Yarmouth this time 'without seeing all the most curious specimens of architectural antiquity'.
Turner had hoped Whewell would return to Yarmouth on his way to the North. Further to Francis Baily's publication ['An Account of the Rev. John Flamsteed...compiled from his own Manuscripts and other authentic Documents, never before published', 1835] 'I can throw no light upon the document relating to Flamsteed which my daughter copied for you'.
Turner would like Whewell to spend some time with him during the summer: 'Whatever time it might suit you to come...I should be delighted to talk to you about ancient architecture, and to accompany you over Norwich Cathedral and Castle, unquestionably among the finest specimen of Norman buildings in existence'. Turner has looked at Whewell's book with great pleasure ['Architectural Notes on German Churches']: 'You have studied the subject profoundly and gone into the causes of things, while I have neither had the time, nor the knowledge, nor perhaps the abilities to do more than examine the surface'.
Turner will be very pleased to see Whewell and Adam Sedgwick on Tuesday - 'could not you stay till at least the next morning?'
Letters largely concerned with family matters. Relatives mentioned include 'your Aunt Orkney' [Elizabeth Hamilton, Countess of Orkney]; Grace's half-brother Thomas Thynne, 2nd Viscount Weymouth and his wife Louisa, née Carteret, whom he married in the span of these letters; Grace's 'sister [Mary] Graham', 'Lady Granville' [Grace Carteret, 1st Countess Granville], her godmother; her mother Mary, née Villiers, 'unkle' Henry Villiers, and mother's cousin William O'Brien, 4th Earl of Inchiquin; Lord Carteret [later 2nd Earl Granville] and his wife Frances.
Topics of interest in the letters include April Fools (letter 6, 31 Mar. 1733), pick-pocketing at Bartholomew Fair (letter 13, 28 Aug. 1733), and an attack of smallpox suffered by Grace's sister Betty (letter 17, 8 Dec. 1833, and following).
Sans titreOn embossed notepaper, 1A Chesterfield Street, Mayfair. - Seeks Yorkshire School vote for [?] T. Chipchase; his father is their former butler.
61 Hercules Buildings, Lambeth Road, London S.E. - Graham was formerly a railway engineer at Leeds; has suffered in the trade conflicts and seeking work. Postscript: Graham's dignified demeanour caused jealousy. Enclosure: printed address to James Graham from fellow workmen at the North Eastern Railway Locomotive Department, Leeds, 'on his leaving to partake of a better situation'.
Delivery of Pontefract Addresses to the Queen, Prince Albert and the Duchess of Kent [on the Royal Marriage].
Leeds. - Invitation to Annual Dinner of the Leeds Operative Conservative Society.
Whitehall. - Lord John Russell cannot further commute Caroline Parker's sentence for robbery [autograph signature only].
Mattersea. - Re Milnes' appointment as a magistrate.
A note clarifying Macaulay's quote about women of noble families marrying the divines of the time, in response to a claim in Churchill Babington's Mr Macaulay's Character of the Clergy in the Latter Part of the Seventeenth Century Considered.
Sans titreWith printed message 'I'll not confer with sorrow till to-morrow; But Joy shall have her way This very day'. No message written in by hand. Image of cottage, by Frederick Leighton [sic]. This item may not be from Vishwanath Singh, or it could have originally contained the following item.
Folded sheet, 'Christmas Remembrance' and signature of Vishwanath Singh; on opposite page, image of cottage and hens.
'Greetings. Every Happiness, Every Blessing', signed by Vishwanath Singh.
On headed paper with the arms of Chhatarpur: 'Expecting to hear from you. Having not heard from you for long. I'm anxious'.