Item 4 - Letter from Studholme John Hodgson to Richard Monckton Milnes

6 ff.

Arlington Court, Barnstaple. - Looking forward to seeing the 'interesting things' Milnes hints at; rarely meets with anything exciting these days; regrets dispersing books and sundries on his marriage; those presented to [Sir Richard] Burton must be lost, 'being probably in the possession of the Priests of Meccah, & he poor fellow is I fear in the region from whence no one returns'; did Milnes hear a tale of his being assassinated. Wishes Milnes had had the Duke of York's copy of Fanny Hill; it was secretly given to Hodgson by Sir Henry ('Kangaroo') Cooke when the Duke ordered it destroyed; Hodgson when tired of the story rashly gave it to 'a very great man no now more' who had been shown it by a 'female Bonaparte' lover of Hodgson's. Current pursuit of clergyman's wife; her apparent innocence is at odds with her accounts of sexual activity at school and current practices with friends, some witnessed by Hodgson; she seems to prefer rôle of observer rather than participant; she once requested a condom to show a female friend, which Hodgson passed to her during prayers; it was from a packet sent by Hankey and its size amused them. Mrs Collett continues her business; the hermaphrodite's outfits; she wields a whip and prefers to be treated as a woman. Postscript: asks if Milnes has read the 'perfectly bawdy' Mademoiselle de Maupin [by Gautier], which the Parisian ladies rave about; a young woman recommended it.