Mount Edgcumbe <1>
12th September
My Dear Henry
The following from the Times, <2> exactly corroborates what I was saying the other day. “The upper classes of society who from their position are the patrons of Art, do not possess the exquisite knowledge to appreciate it when placed before them, or know in what direction it should be encouraged. They do not, & cannot discriminate & find out the true genius in his painting room or his Studio, & when he comes as a competitor before the public, he is met either by palpable ignorance or disgraceful jobbing, and after struggling till his heart is broken, he sinks into a mere Builder – or a Portrait Painter, or a Bust & Monument-Manufacturer.” –
We arrived here early in the afternoon yesterday & found a large Party, who however depart in a few days. Caroline <3> was so sorry at your not coming, but I have soothed her by an account of your good intentions, & told her that your will consented, but not your business. After all you never gave me back the 3 Letters, any more than I remembered to give you the Tree Money but the latter will keep & be just as solid and good at any time as now, but the Letters will be an old story. Pray write to me however short, from Belgium & don’t reduce me to the state of your Aunt Mary <4> on the shores of Glamorgan. The Galatea <5> is I hear gone to Dublin the Irish Sea is proverbial for Storms. This place is in the greatest beauty – Adieu We are just going to a Launch
Notes:
1. Mt Edgecumbe, near Plymouth: seat of the Earl of Mt Edgcumbe.
2. Frank Mason, letter ‘To the Editor of the Times’, The Times, Monday, 9 September 1844, p. 5.
3. Caroline Augusta Edgcumbe, née Feilding, Lady Mt Edgcumbe (1808–1881); WHFT’s half-sister.
4. Lady Mary Lucy Cole, née Strangways, first m. Talbot (1776–1855), WHFT’s aunt.
5. Kit Talbot’s yacht. [See Doc. No: 01296].