[ Lord John Manners (later the Duke of Rutland). ] Autograph Letter Signed ('John Manners'), recounting 'a curious episode' at a 'dinner given in the Temple by Mr. Hayward to Louis Blanc'.

4pp., 12mo. On bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Begins: 'I have a very distinct recollection of the dinner given in the Temple by Mr. Hayward to Louis Blanc, in consequence of a curious episode connected with it which I have often related.' He proceeds to tell the anecdote, which tells how Blanc, 'eager for information respecting the Constitution of the country which was sheltering him', is enlightened by fellow guests 'in a rather solid way'. 'This bored old Mr. Quintin Dick [(1777-1858), MP for Maldon] who at last said | Sir, you have heard many explanations of the working of the British Constitution. They are beside the mark. I will tell how it works. At my last election I spoke to my constituents as follows. | Gentlemen, my opponent is a very poor man, with a large family. I am a rich man, and I thank God that all I care for in this world I cover with this hat! | I put my hat on my head, and they returned me. | That, Sir, is the practical working of the British Constitution.' Dick's reply leaves Blanc 'completely mystified', while his fellow guests are all 'convulsed with laughter'.~100~MANUSCRIPT AUITOGRAPH JOHN JAMES ROBERT MANNERS 7TH DUKE OF RUTLAND LORD QUINTIN DICK LOUIS BLANC ABRAHAM HAYWARD BRITISH VICTORIAN NINETEENTH CENTURY CONSERVATIVE POLITICS PARLIAMENT CONSTITUTION~~0~Shared file 25~~~0~~ 20142~14/12/2017~False~Mark Lemon (1809-1870), founding editor of Punch and The Field [ Frederick Mullett Evans (1804-1870) of the London publishers Bradbury and Evans ]~[ Mark Lemon, editor of Punch. ] Autograph Letter Signed to 'Evans' [ Frederick Mullett Evans of Punch's publishers Bradbury and Evans ], declining his friend's song as he is 'overstocked with poetry by the Regulars.[]'~On letterhead of 'The Punch Office, 85, Fleet Street. [ London ] | 1850.' [ No date. ]~1p., 12mo. In good condition, on lightly aged paper. Reads: 'My Dear Evans, | Your friend's song is very good, but I am overstocked with poetry by the Regulars.[] Will you return the M.S. t him with my best thanks!'~40~MANUSCRIPT AUTOGRAPH MARK LEMON PUNCH OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI FREDERICK MULLET EVANS AND & BRADBURY LONDON PUBLISHERS PUBLISHING NINETEENTH CENTURY FLEET STREET PERIODICAL JOURNALISM~~0~Shared file 25~~~0~~ 20143~14/12/2017~False~Sir Claude Phillips (1846-1924), art historian and critic for the Daily Telegraph and Manchester Guardian, first keeper of the Wallace Collection, 1900-1911 [ Richard Alexander Streatfeild ]~[ Sir Claude Phillips, art critic and first Keeper of the Wallace Collection. ] Autograph Letter Signed ('C. P.') to 'Dearest Dick' [ i.e. the art critic R. A. Streatfeild ], regarding the obituaries of 'H. H.' and Elgar's 'wonderful' new 'things'.~On letterhead of 40 Ashburn Place, S.W. [ London ] 4 May 1916.~2pp., 4to. In fair condition, on aged, worn and creased paper. Written in a hurried, difficult hand. He begins by saying he was 'just thinking' of him, 'and wondering!' He then invites him to dine the following Sunday in the 'usual way'. He continues: 'No, I didn't write about H. H. . There was a ordinary notices in the D[aily]. T[elegraph]., but by whom written I can't say. I didn't really know enough about him.' He is 'going with Mr. Crawshay to the Elgar performance: it appears the new things are wonderful. I don't know how I shall bear it all, and for that reason have taken Back Row seats in the Grand Circle.' He ends with the question: 'were you at the British Academy for Mackail's Shakespeare lecture?' From the papers of Sir Richard Harington of Ridlington.~40~MANUSCRIPT AUTOGRAPH SIR CLAUDE PHILLIPS ART CRITIC BRITISH PAINTING DAILY TELEGRAPH MANCHESTER GUARDIAN R. A. STREATFEILD RICHARD ALEXANDER EDWARD ELGAR MUSIC MUSICAL CLASSICAL~~0~Shared file 25~~~0~~ 20133~14/12/2017~False~Sir George Brisbane Douglas] (1856-1935), 5th Baronet, of Springwood Park, Scottish poet and author, Lecturer in Scottish History at Glasgow University~[ Sir George Brisbane Douglas of Springwood Park, poet and author, Lecturer in Scottish History at Glasgow University. ] 22 Autograph Letters Signed to his 'Aunt Sholta'~One from 1879, fourteen from between 1889 and 1896, and seven undated. Ten addressed from Springwood Park, Kelso [ Roxburghshire, Scotland ] Others from locations including Constantine in Algeria, Seville in Spain, and Connaught House, Gibraltar.~See Douglas's appreciative obituary in The Times, 24 June 1932, subtitled 'History of the Border Counties'..Douglas was born in Gibraltar, his mother being a native of that place. ('There was', according to The Times, 'always a courtliness in the late baronet's habitual manner suggestive of the hidalgo.') He succeeded his father in 1885, 'and at once took up his residence in his traditional romantic home at Springwood, in the Border country, where Tweed and Teviot meet […] From first to last he was a Border man; steeped in the love of his classic countryside; the never weary student of its fauna and flora, its literature and legends. He wrote ballads, short stories, and of history. But he was more an authority of almost flawless memory to consult than an author on whose productions contentedly to browse. His “History of the Border Counties” (Selkirk, Roxburgh, and Peebles) is a standard work, the fruit of an immense amount of laborious if congenial research. […] His country was Sir Walter Scott's […] He may well be remembered as the country gentleman who, according to his far from mean lights and powers, grasped the torch of Border minstrelsy and learning from the hands of Sir Walter and played his part, blamelessly and nobly, in handing it on.' The 22 letters total 89pp., 12mo. Mostly written on bifoliums. One letter only (20 January 1891) is incomplete, containing only the first four pages on a bifolium. The others are variously signed: 'George' (14); 'George B. Douglas' (3); 'G. Douglas' (3); 'George Douglas' (1). The collection is in good condition, on lightly aged and worn paper. The recipient, 'Aunt Sholta', with a house in town another in Folkestone, has proved surprisingly difficult to identify. Douglas writes in a neat, disciplined hand, reflecting his character (The Times describes him as 'a fastidious stylist'), and the correspondence is an intimate one, largely dealing with personal news and domestic matters at Springwood and Killiechassie, and providing a snapshot of the life of the Scottish landed gentry in the late Victorian period. Other topics include: local politics (his Conservatives being 'sensible, right-thinking men'); dealings with Arthur Elliot on 'what might be done by the Govt. in the matter of dear Jamie's grave' ('military graves in Zululand'); a long description of 'the Balfour Banquet' in 1889 ('the Chief Secretary would not be the man he is, had he those qualities which make a great orator of the Ex-Prime-Minister'); 'illness in Kelso and the surrounding district'; his concern at her 'alarming accidents both in the carriage & when your house caught fire'; Aunt Charlotte's response to 'Uncle Edward's death' and 'sad' funeral; 'Aunt Abbs's accident and her progress toward recovery'; a visit from 'Francis & Effie'; his 'good dairymaid' ('I am sending you 2 lbs of her butter, together with a few spring flowers'); 'the P[arish]. C[ouncil]. elections'; 'Lord R[andolph]. Churchill's death' ('brilliant as was his talent it was so undisciplined that he can scarcely be considered a loss to his party'); the influenza; Miss Glendinning's funeral; 'Francis's wedding'; his forthcoming visit to 'Lord & Lady Coleridge at Ottery St. Mary'; 'Miss Harriet Childe-Pemberton from Genoa', 'Mrs. Page-Fryer' and 'Mrs. & Miss Polhill-Turner'; domestic arrangements at Springwood Park (including 'the very serious operation of having a kitchen-range put in'); 'the death of Cecil Douglas'; 'the facts abt. the Duke of York's first marriage as they have been carefully kept out of the newspapers'; his impressions (favourable) of Seville; his mother's visit to 'the Spanish Exhibition – where she has some exhibits'. There are reports on his reading of Baring-Gould's 'Historic Oddities', Hardy's 'Tess of the D'Urbervilles' ('a powerful tragedy with a charming background of English rural life', but also 'unpleasant'), 'the poems of Helen, Lady Dufferin', 'Alphonse Daudet's last work “La Petite Paroisse”' ('not up to the level of his best efforts'), 'Manning's Life' (of 'extreme interest […] But alas! Its stupendous length – some 1,200 large pages – robs me of the hope of ever being able to get thro' it […] its upshot is to show Manning in the character of immense ability but also of an ambitious schemer of the deepest dye'). The first letter is a long and significant one (6pp.), written from Connaught House, Gibraltar, 10 December 1879. He begins with news of his trip: 'I like Gibraltar and shall probably continue to do so for about six weeks – after wh. I shall be tired of it (as I now rapidly become of most places – wh. is a great change – as I well remember when I could not leave any place without low spirits). Aunt Lercadia's house is very pretty and comfortable and full of recent inventions and latest improvements in furniture.' Stating that he has a 'decision to communicate', having decided to tell her before anyone else, he announces that he is 'going to give up all thoughts of the Foreign Office or any other office and devote my whole services to Art – the literary fine arts department. | The idea of combining the two vocations (wh. as you know I for a long time entertained) I have now completely abandoned, seeing, as I do, that between the two there would be little chance of making a mark in either and still less of my leading a life of tolerable contentment – the best of my time being given to one and the best of my thoughts to the other'. He can see 'no reason against this decision except my father's wishes or prejudice'. Among his 'qualifications for the pursuit of literature' he can 'only rely on one – devotion – but even if I have overrated my abilities wh. I do not think I have – I shall always have the consolation that there are other heads as bad as mine in the republic of letters'. He hope to be able to soon describe his 'scheme of art-culture wh. is extremely comprehensive and I think somewhat original'. On 27 December 1891 he writes of the season's weather: 'We have had about a week of severe frost in Teviotdale, but yesterday, before I left home, there was a complete thaw. There has been no snow, but I don't think I even before saw such rime – crystals of extraordinary size and beauty on the grass. Some of them were like tree-sponges. And as there had been no wind during several days of the frost, whilst there were bogs at night, this rime had collected on the trees to an astonishing extent. The High Wood looked quite white against a grey sky, thus reversing the usual distinction of light and dark in a landscape – a very curious effect.' On 29 September 1894 he praises her 'translation from Heine': 'The only exception I can take to your rendering is that you alter the rhythm in the last verse, where I should have preferred uniformity. But probably you have done this, as one might change the key in music, to indicate a change in the emotion of the poem'). On 5 February 1895 he announces that '[a]t the urgent request of Mr. Blackwood I have undertaken to write a history of the Scottish Border Counties, which will keep me very busy for a long time to come'. On 14 March 1896: 'I am going tonight with Mr. Thompson to hear the new Irish Opera “Shamus O'Brien” by Villiers-Stanford. Thompson informs me that it is very good.' On 15 August [1894] he speaks of 'the funeral of Thomas Downs. He was the last of my old men here – Sheriff having died while I was abroad in the spring, White, at Longnewton, is now the only one of the old servants left, and he is over 90. He was looking very well though, when I saw him a fortnight or so ago.' In the same letter he writes of the 'severe loss' to literature 'in the death of Walter Pater of whose acquaintance I had had the honour for some years. I shd. suppose, however, that he was not a man that any one ever knew well.'~1000~MANUSCRIPT AUTOGRAPH SIR GEORGE BRISBANE DOUGLAS SPRINGWOOD PARK SCOTLAND SCOTTISH POET LITERATURE SPRINGWOOD PARK BORDERS ROXBURGHSHIRE~~0~JM Box 25~~~0~~ 20144~14/12/2017~False~Sir Joseph Edgar Boehm [ born Böhm ] (1834-1890), Austro-Hungarian and British sculptor and medallist~[ Sir Joseph Edgar Boehm, sculptor. ] Autograph Letter Signed ('J. E. Boehm') to 'Mr. Greene', sending photographs of his work.~On letterhead of The Avenue, 76, Fulham Road, S.W. [ London ] 10 August 1888.~1p., 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Reads: 'Dear Mr. Greene | To my regret I cannot find any photos of Carlyle's statue or bust | faut de mieux I enclose one of a bust of Ruskin & one of Liszt's'.~60~MANUSCRIPT AUTOGRAPH SIR JOSEPH EDGAR BOEHM AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN AUSTRIA HUNGARY SCULPTURE SCULPTOR ROYAL ACADEMY VICTORIAN NINETEENTH CENTURY GREENE~~0~Shared file 25~~~0~~ 20145~14/12/2017~False~Sydney George Holland, 2nd Viscount Knutsford (1855-1931), hospital administrator and reformer~[ Sydney George Holland, 2nd Viscount Knutsford, hospital reformer. ] Autograph Letter Signed ('Knutsford') to 'Miss Holland'~On letterhead of Kneesworth Hall, Royston, Hertfordshire. 20 November 1914.~2pp., 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. He asks her to help him once again 'with the Women's Wards in the London Hospital'. He hopes that the enclosure (not present) will interest her: 'I am sending it instead of the familiar booklet To Women.' He concludes, presumably in reference to the war, 'Whatever is being done, the relief of suffering women must not be left undone.'~90~MANUSCRIPT AUTOGRAPH SYDNEY GEORGE HOLLAND VISCOUNT KNUTSFORD HOSPITAL MEDICAL MEDICINE BRITISH LONDON HOSPITAL~~0~Shared file 25~~~0~~ 20146~14/12/2017~False~Thomas Pakenham, 5th Earl of Longford [ Lord Silchester to 1887 ] (1864-1915), Irish politician and soldier [ R. A. Streatfeild [ Richard Alexander Streatfeild ] (1866-1919), music critic ]~[ Thomas Pakenham, 5th Earl of Longford. ] Two Autograph Letters Signed (both 'Longford') to the music critic R. A. Streatfeild regarding the suitability as a groom or chauffeur of his 'fellow countryman' Leonard, for whom he has a 'sneaking liking'.~On letterheads of 44 Byranston Square, W. [ London ] 11 and 12 May 1911.~The two letters in good condition, on lightly aged paper. ONE: 2pp., 12mo. He begins by stating that he 'knew Leonard pretty well in the 2nd Life G[uar]ds., he was a good fellow, but rough and wild - he came from Mullingar, my local capital, a good man with a horn but too heavy for a groom'. He could not give Leonard 'a better character than the regiment has done', and if 'his knee is too bad for him to soldier it probably would prevent him being a groom anywhere [...] he occasionally came before me for punishment - and as a fellow countryman I took an interest in him'. While 'he could, no doubt, do very well in service', Longford is not sure he would 'like to have him as a chauffeur, perhaps he might drive a motor bus or a taxi cab. | I have a sneaking liking for him as you may gather, and he will probably descend on me here in a day or two'. TWO: 1p., 12mo. He is 'out of London (in Ireland)' the following day, bt asks him to 'let Leonard come to me Sunday or Monday'.~60~MANUSCRIPT AUTOGRAPH THOMAS PAKENHAM 5TH EARL OF LONGFORD R.A. R. A. RCHARD ALEXANDER STREATFEILD MUSIC CRITIC MUSICAL IRELAND IRISH EIRE MULLINGAR DOMESTIC SERVICE SERVANT SOCIAL HISTORY~~0~Shared file 25~~~0~~ 20147~14/12/2017~False~Walter Handel Thorley (1859-1923), Blackburn composer and organist [ R. A. Streatfeild [ Richard Alexander Streatfeild ] (1866-1919), music critic ]~[ Walter Handel Thorley, organist. ] Autograph Letter Signed to the music critic R. A. Streatfeild, regarding his candidacy for the Conductorship of the London Philharmonic Society.~On embossed letterhead of 25 Durham Terrace, Westbourne Gardens, W. [ London ] 14 July 1899.~1p., 12mo. On grey paper. In good condition, lightly aged. Reads: 'Dear Sir | As I am unknown to you further than by Concert on Ap. 28th. may I be permitted to say that I am a Candidate for the Conductorship of the London Phil[harmoni]c. Society and to hope it may prove an acceptable item of news.'~45~MANUSCRIPT AUTOGRAPH WALTER HANDEL THORLEY BLACKBURN LANCASHIRE COMPOSER CLASSICAL MUSIC MUSICAL R. A. STREATFEILD RICHARD ALEXANDER LONDON~~0~Shared file 25~~~0~~ 20131~14/12/2017~False~William Chaffers (1811-1842), authority on hallmarks and potters' marks [ Eliza Meteyard (1816-1879), writer, advocate of women's rights and biographer of Josiah Wedgwood; Rev. William Avery ]~[ William Chaffers and Eliza Meteyard, authorities on pottery. ] Two Autograph Letters Signed (both 'W. Chaffers') from Chaffers to Meteyard, the first on her forthcoming biography of Josiah Wedgwood, the second on 'the Wedgwood vase' of 'Mr Avery'.~The first letter from 19 Fitzroy Square [ London ], 1 March 1865; the second letter on letterhead of same address, 16 February 1868.~See the entries on both parties in the Oxford DNB. Both letters in good condition, lightly aged. Each with a different monogram letterhead, the second also with printed address. ONE: 1 March 1865. 2pp., 12mo. With an eye to the two-volume biography of Josiah Wedgwood which Meteyard would publish later in the year, Chaffers writes that '[s]ome time since' he saw, while 'visiting a gentleman at Manchester […] some correspondence from Wedgwood to his Grandfather', and he now thinks 'they might serve to add a link to the Chain of his history which you are now engaged upon'. He has 'begged copies of these' for her. He continues: 'I wrote to my friend C Roach Smith [ the antiquary Charles Roach Smith (1806-1890) ] for your address and he tells me that your interesting work is already in the press if it should not be too late & of sufficient importance the letters might be put in an appendix.' TWO: 16 February 1868. 3pp., 12mo. Chaffers' entry in the Oxford DNB states that he 'also dealt in antiques', and the letter is a disingenuous and none too subtle attempt to acquire a valuable item at a low price , the subject of the letter being the 'most lovely vase' of the 'Rev. Wm. Avery, of St. Goran, Megavissey, Cornwall', for which see Meteyard's Wedgwood, vol.2, p.515. The letter begins: 'Mr Barlow brought the Wedgwood vase to me this morning; I thought it was still at the Sk Museum as I saw it in the lock up the last time I was there, but not exhibited to the Public.' He would like to know 'the lowest possible price Mr Avery will take for it to me[.] I do not mean the asking price; - as buyers sometimes like an abatement; I really think between ourselves £50 would be a fair price, in fact I have seen them sold lately for a less sum, the finish does not come up to my expectations, especially in the snake handles and leaves, the frieze is certainly fine and sharp – the colour also is rather too deep a blue; and it has not “Wedgwood” stamped.' He asks her not to show Avery the letter, 'as he may think I wish to run it down'. He will do his best to 'dispose' of the vase once he knows Avery's lowest price, 'and will get as much more as I can for him'. Despite his protestations, he continues to run down the statue in a postscript: 'The pattern is far from unique[.] I saw a vase yesterday of the same subject but smaller in size and slightly damaged at the handle – the price asked me was £25.'~320~MANUSCRIPT AUTOGRAPH WILLIAM CHAFFERS ELIZA METEYARD CERAMIC CERAMICS JOSIAH WEDGWOOD POTTERY REV. WILLIAM AVERY ANTIQUES ANTIQUARIAN VASE~~0~Shared file 25~~~0~~ 20132~14/12/2017~False~William Cunningham (1849-1919), Archdeacon of Ely, Scottish economist [ Harvard University ]~[ William Cunningham, Archdeacon of Ely, Scottish economist. ] Two Autograph Letters Signed (both 'Wm. Cunningham') to an unnamed party, explaining why he must decline his invitation to co-operate, despite the 'flattering invitation' of the Delegates~Both from Trinity College, Cambridge. 9 and 12 October 1899.~The two letters were written on Cunningham's return from America, where he had been lecturing in economic history at Harvard. Both are in good condition, lightly aged. Both are addressed from Trinity College, Cambridge. ONE: 9 October 1899. 2pp., small 4to. He has 'just returned to England after a long absence'. He appreciates 'the honour you have done me in asking me to cooperate in such a work', but regrets 'that it is impossible for me to undertake anything of the kind at present'. TWO: 12 October 1899. 4pp., small 4to. He apologises for not writing 'more definitely at first, as it would have saved you the trouble of farther correspondence'. At the same time, after the recipient's second letter, '& the kind expressions which you quote from the Delegates', he feels that 'a fuller statement is necessary'. He spells out his reasons from declining: 'I have very little time for literary work of any kind, as the claims of my college & my parish are rather heavy, and I am bound to get on with two pretty big undertakings as fast as I can – the second volume of my essay on Western Civilisation, & the recasting of the second volume of my Growth of English Industry & Commerce.' On Cunningham's 'most sanguine calculation' the two books together 'will occupy a couple of years at least', and he feel justified in laying either of them aside 'in order to take up another piece of work for a time – however tempting it may be'. He asks him to explain to the delegates 'the precise circumstances under which I have declined their flattering invitation'.~220~MANUSCRIPT AUTOGRAPH WILLIAM CUNNINGHAM ARCHDEACON OF ELY ECONOMICS ECONOMIST VICTORIAN NINETEENTH CENTURY DISMAL SCIENCE HARVARD UNIVERSITY TRINITY COLLEGE CAMBRIDGE DELEGATES~~0~Shared file 25~~~0~~ 20148~14/12/2017~False~William Ewart (1798-1869) of Mossley Hill, Liverpool, Radical politician and penal reformer [ Hansard, Printer to the House of Commons ]~[ William Ewart, Radical politician and penal reformer, and Hansard. ] Autograph Letter Signed ('W Ewart') to 'Mr: Hansard', regarding the proof of his 'speech on Capital Punishment. With Autograph Note in response on reverse.~Otterington House, Northallerton. 24 July 1850.~1p., 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. He asks to be sent 'the proof of my speech on Capital Punishment for correction'. In a postscript he writes: 'Possibly one copy may have been sent already to my house in London. In that case, can you send another here, as I cannot easily make the Servant in London understand about the Paper.' On the reverse an initialled autograph note is written in red ink: 'Mr Ewart has sent us another letter since; will you have the kindness to send this in advance immediate | '.~35~MANUSCRIPT AUTOGRAPH WILLIAM EWART MOSSLEY HILL LIVERPOOL HANSARD CAPITAL PUNISHMENT PENAL REFORM PRINTING HOUSE OF COMMONS PRINTER SPEECHES~~0~Shared file 25~~~0~~