[‘A very nice little collection’: the 2nd Marquis of Hastings boasts about his picture collection.] Autograph Letter Signed regarding ‘the entry in the Leicester registry’ and a picture sent to him by the recipient.

See the entry in the Oxford DNB for his father the 1st Marquis. 2pp, 12mo. On the first leaf of a bifolium. In fair condition, lightly aged and discoloured, with thin strip of glue from previous mount on reverse of second leaf. The recipient is not named, and he signs ‘Hastings’. The letter begins: ‘Dear Sir, / I made the necessary enquiries as to the entry in the Leicester registry (through a friend of our clergyman) & enclose his reply [not present] - I fear it is not what you wished for.’ He might get ‘more satisfactory information’ if the recipient can give a ‘better clue to go by’. Turning to his painting collection he writes: ‘The picture you were good enough to send me is already established amongst the portraits of his relatives, & I have at last got all my pictures up, & flatter myself they are now a very nice little collection, & amongst them many of great value & merit.’ Unfortunately Dr Waagen (‘Treasures of Art in Great Britain’, 1854), in his peregrination around the country, was ‘obliged to miss Donnington Hall, the seat of the Marquis of Hastings, with a collection of Dutch pictures and portraits’, so we must do without his evaluation of the collection.