[engraved letterhead/address:]
Royal Asiatic Society,
5, New Burlington Street, W.,
15th May 1862.
Dear Sir,
I inclose a card of our meetings, of which three are still to come, viz, our Anniversary (24 May), one in June (evening, when Mr Parkes will join in a discourse about China;<1> and one in July, at which your paper might perhaps be read. The Council will propose Sir H. Rawlinson as our Director at the Anniversary
Mr Norris tells me of a new and most interesting discovery in Cuneiforms – Complete lists of annual High-Priests in each reign. The slab is in fragments, of which some are still missing. The idea is that the years were named after these High-Priests, like the Roman consular years.
Believe me, dear Sir, faithfully yours,
J W Redhouse
H. F. Talbot, Esq.
[envelope:]
[blind embossed on rear flap:] RAS
H. Fox Talbot Esqre.
Millbourne [sic] Tower
Edinburgh
Notes:
1. Sir Harry Smith Parkes (1828–1885), diplomatist. In 1860, in conjunction with Henry Brougham Loch (1827–1900), 1st Baron Loch of Drylaw, private secretary to Lord Elgin (1811–1863), he conducted negotiations which led to the surrender of the Taku forts, China. Their party was ‘treacherously’ seized soon after by Chinese officials and imprisoned in harsh conditions. Henry Brougham Loch and Harry Smith Parkes were two of only a few surviving prisoners that were released several weeks later.