25th April
My Dear Henry
I thought you had decided not to shew your views that were to be subscribed for, to anybody till they came out. Horatia <1> met Lord & Lady Kinnaird <2> at dinner yesterday at Lansdowne House <3> who told her they were émerveillés at the beauty of your Scotch views <4> which had been shewn to them by Sir David Brewster. <5> He is a great friend of theirs & they talked a great deal in his praise. as probably he has many friends in London besides them to whom he will shew these pictures, I think Belgium had better be the work subscribed for. If he had only shewn specimens to the Kinnairds it might have made them wish to subscribe but I believe he shewed all. I am of opinion that whichever work is subscribed for should not have been seen by any eye till it comes out for many reasons
affly yrs
E F
Henry
Notes:
1. Henrietta Horatia Maria Gaisford, née Feilding (1810–1851), WHFT’s half-sister.
2. George William Fox Kinnaird, 9th Baron Kinnaird, 1st Baron Kinnaird of Rossie (1807-1878); and his wife, Hon. Frances Anne Georgina Kinnaird, née Ponsonby (1817-1910). Kinnaird was a scientist and a land reformer.
3. Lansdowne House, London: home of the Marquis of Lansdowne, WHFT's uncle and cousins.
4. WHFT, Sun Pictures in Scotland (London: Published by subscription in 1845).
5. Sir David Brewster (1781–1868), Scottish scientist & journalist.