Item 8 - Letter book belonging to Henry Ellis

1 vol.; paper wrappers

A volume containing drafts of 45 letters written from Pisa and dated Nov. 10 1795 to [June 16?] 1896. Letters are primarily to agents and bankers in England and discuss personal business matters; others are to friends and in them Henry Ellis mentions his concern about the revolution in France and the French fleet in the Mediterranean. Some letters carry heavy revisions, and two appear to be incomplete, possibly from a missing leaf.

The business letters include those to the Fonnereau brothers, and Messrs. Sargent, Chambers & Co.; a few concern a disagreement about an annuity with Nat. Coffin in the West Indies. His letters to friends include those to General Robert Melville, Colonel John Joyner Ellis, Colonel Woodburn, Mr Wilson, and in addition to asking for news, he warns them that his mail is often lost or destroyed before it reaches him. He writes about the society in Pisa, and the lack of it after Lady Bolingbroke departs. One letter is written anonymously to 'Sir' [the Prime Minister?]; in it he warns him of a man by the initials of S. L. C. in Venice who has bragged that he has funded disturbances in England, speaks of Robespierre as a great man, and plans to set a mob to remove the letter's recipient from power.

The last page in the volume is a list of the professions of persons condemned by the revolutionary tribunal from Aug. 1792 to 27 July 1794 when Robespierre was guillotined.