Lacock
Aug. 7. 1840
My Dear Mother
I enclose a letter to Mr Thorburn <1> containing a cheque for 20 guineas will you send it to him safely?
I took out most of the pictures from the frames – The frames had better be put by in some drawer, or cupboard. I will make some for Baron Neumann <2> as soon as I can; at present the large demands upon my stock prevent me. For, there is Bowood <3> Bazar <sic>, the Italian savans meeting at Turin and the Grand Duke. <4>
Last night we drank tea on the terrace at ½ past 9 o’clock. It was very calm & very warm, & very dark, so that we hardly knew bread from butter.
Your affte
Henry
Notes:
1. Possibly Robert Thorburn (1818–1885), miniature painter. [See Doc. No: 04120].
2. Philipp Freiherr von Neumann (Philipp Baron von Neumann) (b. 1781).[See Doc. No: 04120].
3. Bowood House, nr Calne, Wiltshire, 5 mi NE of Lacock: seat of the Marquess of Lansdowne.
4. In 1840, WHFT sent photographs in the care of Prof Charles Babbage (1792–1871), mathematician & inventor, to Prof Giovanni Battista Amici (1786–1868), Italian optician & man of science, and Leopold II, Duke of Tuscany (1797–1870), see Doc. No: 04117. The photographs sent to Amici are now in the Biblioteca Estanse, Modena; those sent to the Grand Duke may not have reached him [see Doc. No: 04394], they have not been located.