July 26 34
17 Bruton St
London
Dear Sir/
On enquiring of my Printer, I find that the expence <sic> of printing 100 copies of the Account of Lacock Abbey by Witham, <1> will be 5 Gnas, including paper – To this will be to be added the prices of boarding < wil> which will be at the least 6d per vol. The printing will be <neat?> in 8vo and the paper good.
I am glad to learn that Mr Bowles <2> is going on with his vol on Lacock, tho’ I am confident he will never sell enough to repay his expences – however it is a rational amusement, & much better than writing about politics & church reform on neither of which can he write or talk with composure I ventured to tell him he need not be alarmed about his own permanency in the church, & all its revenues, but that he must be fully aware that changes were in preparation, & that the wise & prudent churchman would prepare for such. The high church authorities may <illegible deletion> mitigate the storm – may prevent a revolution, by volunteering a temperate reform I am not desirous of embarking in any new publication either on Lacock, or other subject: but offered my cooperation with you in case Bowles gave up his vol. I presume you have my views of the cloister, published in the architectural Antiqs? <3>
Yrs very truly
J. Britton
H Fox Talbot Esq M.P.Notes:
1. Rev George Witham who wrote The History of Lacock Abbey, or Locus Beatæ Mariæ. From Dugdale, Stevens &c, with additions on the present state of the Abbey (1806). [See Doc. No: 02948].
2. Rev William Lisle Bowles (1762–1850), Wiltshire poet & antiquary.
3. John Britton, The architectural antiquities of Great Britain, represented and illustrated in a series of views, elevations, plans, sections, and details, of various ancient English edifices: with historical and descriptive accounts of each (London: London, Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, 1807).