HARLECH

All three items in good condition, with texts clear and complete, on lightly-aged paper. Letter One: 9 January 1913. Typed. 8vo, 3 pp. Bifolium. Twenty-eight lines. Sending florid congratulations on Ormsby-Gore's forthcoming marriage, and describing him as 'one who is bearing burdens bravely & buoyantly in the public service, & striving honestly to do his duty to God & man'. His bride-to-be, Beatrice Edith Mildred Gascoyne-Cecil, is described as 'a maiden like-minded'. Letter Two: 28 April 1913. Typed. 4to, 1 p. Fifteen lines typed and a short autograph postscript.

Text of both letters clear and complete, on aged, grubby paper. The 'Diehards' were a group of right-wing Conservative peers who attempted unsuccessfully to thwart Liberal legislation to limit the right of veto of the House of Lords over Commons legislation. (See G. D. Phillips, 'The Diehards: Aristocratic Society and Politics in Edwardian England', Cambridge, Mass., 1979.) TYPED LETTER: 17 December 1913. 4to, 1 p. He is going to try to write the history of the affair '[b]efore things fade altogether from my memory', and asks if OG has 'any papers, or letters, or diaries'.

8vo, 2 pp. Text clear and complete. Good, on lightly-aged paper. He is 'sorry' that Harlech has 'left the Colonial Office, upon which you have produced such a profound and salutary effect'. From the point of view of the I.L.O.