Normanton <1> nr Stamford,
June 10th 1822
Dear Sir,
It will be the greatest Pleasure to me to see you after so long an Absence, and I feel quite delighted that you will favor me with your Company. I shall remain at Home till the middle of July, and am for the most part disengaged from Pupils. I have at this Time only one Pupil, Tollemache,<2> the eldest Brother of the late Mrs George Finch; <3> and he will go at the End of this Week, to accompany his Father to Nantwich <4>-Races. I shall therefore be completely disengaged next Week, with the Exception of a few Hours on Tuesday or Wednesday to audit the Expenses of the Oakham-Inclosure Commissioners which will be little or no Impediment to our Society. - The following Week is Stamford Races, when I expect the Heathcotes <5> at Normanton, as Lionel is one of the Stewards. -
I have before said that I shall be at Home and most glad to see you at any Time during this month; but, if it is the same to you, I wish you would come next Monday and stay a Fortnight or three Weeks. -
My Mother is very well, and will be so happy to see you: she has often said she was afraid she should not live to see you again: She will soon enter her 80th Year. -
My Brother <6> is become Archdeacon of Bedford since you left England: He will go to London on Wednesday next for a Fortnight, & perhaps may call upon you. He is to be found either at the Bishop of Lincoln's, <7> Connaught Place, or at his Aunt's Mrs Nevinson's, No 5. Alfred-Place, Bedford Sq. -
My Sister is staying with me at Normanton. -
You will find very little Difference in this Place, except that the Trees are grown. -
I saw Arnold Senr <8>a few Weeks since, and he told me you were at Paris on your Return to England. When I hear from you on what [missing text] <9> you will come, I should like to ask Arnold [missing text] meet you. -
I have in my Possession your Medal, which I shall be happy to deliver to you. Dr Wordsworth gave it me, as I think I informed you in my last Letter. <10> -
You have probably heard or at least read in the Papers the Dispute between the Heads & the M. A.s at Cambridge about the Election of a Professor to succeed Dr Clarke. <11> It depends upon the Interpretation of the Statute "De Lectoribus".
If you come by the Mail, you may be conveyed to Empingham by it, the new Mail from Yarmouth<12> to Leicester passing through Empingham every Day, & carrying a Passengers [sic] by the London Mail. I would meet you there or at Stamford, as you like.
Believe me, dear Sir, Your very faithful Friend,
T. K. Bonney. -
W. H. F. Talbot Esqre
31. Sackville Street
London.
Notes:
1. Normanton, Rutlandshire.
2. John Tollemache (1805-1890), later 1st Baron Tollemache of Helmingham.
3. Jane Finch, née Tollemache, wife of George Finch (1794-1870), JP & MP.
4. 4 mi SW of Crewe.
5. Sir Gilbert Heathcote, 4th Baronet (1773-1851), and his wife, Lady Catherine Sophia, née Manners (1773-1825).
6. Reverend Dr Henry Kaye Bonney (1780-1862), later Archdeacon of Lincoln.
7. Sir George Pretyman Tomline, Bishop of Lincoln and Winchester (1750-1827).
8. Thomas Graham Arnold of Stamford (1769-1855), medical doctor and father of T.K. Arnold.
9. Text torn away under seal.
10. The letter referred to has not been located. The medal was the Second Chancellor's Classical Medal, given by Rev Dr Christopher Wordsworth (1774-1846), Master of Trinity College and the brother of the poet. He was Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge University from 1820-1821 and later became a friend of Bonney.
11. Possibly Reverend E. D. Clark. [See Doc. No: 00946].
12. This new service was short-lived, starting just a week before this letter on 3 June and being withdrawn by 5 July.