.Mjk2.NDEw
[1]
Welfield Place – 8 Janry 1862
Wednesday night
Dear Ann
I was glad to get your letter of
22/24 ulto. to breakfast this morning, & thus
to learn that you were all well. – I wished to
have replied by City of N. York, but when I had
finished my letter to Matthew by her, it was
all but 5 p.m.; so I had not the time.
When I reached Welfield place I called at Mrs.
Hagarty’s for a moment, simply to tell her of
the good news recd. at 4 p.m. from N. York to
28th ulto. by City of Balto., that the Trent affair
has been amicably settled, & that Messrs Slidell &
Mason will be given up. – Although in the
matter of North vs. South, she sides with the
latter, yet, as I expected, she seemed pleased;
& apart from considerations of humanity &
Christianity, she has probably felt some
anxiety as to her Bank of Commerce dividends.
Of course all at No. 11 were much pleased
tho’ we have been having some animated dis
=cussion this evening as to the merits of the two
Governments & Peoples, during which I, of course,
had all three of the ladies against me. –
I feel some curiosity to see what the London
Times & other papers will have to say to this
satisfactory solution of the Trent difficulty.
I am inclined to think that it was the [Thirivin?]
[-el?] dispatch of 3rd. ulto. ,which, at the last moment,
swept away any obstacles to a full, complete &
final settlement. – I also think that in
Downing St. they have for some time past
[2]
Calculated in none other than a peaceful issue:
2 days ago
else at the Cabinet Council held ˄ at Osborne
to prorogue Parliament beyond the 7th inst, so
distant a period as 6th February would not have
been agreed upon. –
I wish that the surrender of the 4 captives could
have been assented to in time for them to have
come hither at once by the Europa. –
With this matter settled, I trust there is the better
chance for a speedy release of our two nephews.
I am glad that Walker had seen Rutson & was
to see Fontaine on x mas day. – Though his inter-
=view with the latter was to be, as you say, for only
an hour; yet the journey to & fro, & the sight of
Boston for the first time, would be to Walker, I
think, quite pleasant appendages to the main
object. –
I must now begin to look after my divers un-
=executed commissions, which have been entirely
in abeyance during he last 6 weeks of anxiety
& uncertainty. – Walker wants some “ugly studs
for shirt bosoms & wristbands,”? & Laura said, at
dinner to-day, that I must allow her [underscored] to provide
them, as he is her God-son ["as..son" underscored]– a fact I had not
been aware of. She & indeed all of them, like his letters
to me, which I often read for their entertainment.
Yesterday morning, Mary Bold recd. a letter from
one of the two Messrs Harris, the lawyers at Preston,
to announce the death of their venerable Father,
on the morning of the 6th inst. He would have
been 98, [underscored] had he lived a few weks longer. He died
of bronchitis acquired in the absence of his sons,
whilst they were attending the Assegis here. On x mas
[3]
day he was well enough to preach “effectively”? – so
the letter says.
This reminds me that on Sunday last, when I
went to Mr. David Hodgson’s pew, I was sur=
=prised to find him [underscored] seated in it, beside his
wife. I shook hands with him after service.
Yesterday Elizabeth Bold was calling at their house
where she saw his sister; & my making use of
their pew was discussed. Miss Hodgson said her
brother intended to call & see me. This looks like
his seconding [underscored] his wife’s invitation to “come again”? [underscored]
to their pew, but still I think that next Sunday
I shall take my place among the free seats, & have
it to them to ask me to occupy a ‘more honorable’
post. –
Yesterday Mr. Jennings was the bearer of a note
to me from himself, as follows: “Lpool 7 Janry 62
“My dear sir; It is with the greatest reluctance
“that I ask the favour of yr. lending me a few pounds
“until the first wek in March. Having been out of
“a situation so long, I am left almost destitute, &
“this morning I left home without a bit of coal in
“the house, & cannot obtain any without the money.
“I am, dear Sir, your much obliged John Jennings.”?
Whereupon I got from Cropper Hodgson & Co’s cash
=keeping 5 sovereigns, & handed them to him with a
blank stamped receipt, which he filled up (without
any dictation of mine) as follows: “Liverpool 7th.
“January 1862 – Received from R Maury Esq the sum
“of Five pounds; which I promise to return the first
“week in March next – John Jennings”?
I have no idea at all that he will be in any
fit condition to fulfil this promise; & unless he were
to find a well filled “bag of money in the woods,”?
[4]
I have no intention of accepting of the repayment,
supposing it should be tendered. –
Soon after I had a longish visit from Mr. H. W. Gair,
whom I had not seen since we met in London early
in Nov:. He came to offer me a seat beside him
at a Concert last eveng., which I of course declined,
& only regretted I could not transfer the invitation to
Elizabeth Bold. He told me that, like myself, he
had neither sold nor offered any Cotton since 26th
Octr, until we had entered the new year, when he
said he had sold 500 bales under the Africa’s news
After he had left, he sent me a copy of Rathbern
Bros. annual circular, which I edified myself with
last night. –
After Mr. Gair left, one of C.H & Co’s clerks, with
a smile on his face, informed me that old Calla
-han & his Wife were waiting outside of the office
door to see me. – They had come to pay their
respects; Callahan remarking that his wife could
not be satisfied without calling to thank me for
my continued kindness & to wish me a Happy
New Year. – I shook hands with both & enquired
whether the new shoes fitted them [struckthrough] him, & I asked
her how they were getting on: – she said "very poorly”?:
but I was hard-hearted enough to let them depart
without any largesse – I have since thought that
they are perhaps unable to pay their rent, or otherwise
much pinched. Perhaps I may call on them to as-
=certain the fact. – I found from Mr. Richard
Ashton that he at Mr. Lathurn’s request, had
him in the habit of giving them a few pounds –
it might be £5 or £8 – a year, & I presume that
this [struckthrough] has now ceased.
I fell in with Mr. Charles Dickie two days ago, & I
blame myself since for not having asked him
[5]
if he could give my any tidings of our old friend
Mr. Geo. B. Cumming. But I yet hope to see him
again, as he & his wife are staying for a few days at
the Adelphi, preparatory to spending some time in
Italy: for he said they were going thither, provided
the Trent affair was settled peaceably. –
The old world is full of transatlantic refugees.
I would like to call on many of my acquaintances
among these; but, fixed as I am, I feel as little
inclined for visiting as when I am under the
same roof with you. My mornings, or time between
breakfast & dinner, are spent in Cropper Hodgson
& Co’s office with a squint into the Ex: Room; &
after dinner the quiet fireside at No. 11 is too
comfortable for me to desert it. – I may be but
poor company, for Elizabeth, Mary & Laura; but
there is rarely any addition to our small circle; &
I have the vanity to imagine that my company
is therefore the more acceptable. – Master Willie
has been passing about a fortnight with the Ad=
=disons at New Brighton, & is still there.
On Sunday even [struckthrough] afternoon last I went to Hamil
=ton square, thinking to find Tom Bold at home,
& to hear from him whether the Europa was in, &
what news she had brought; but I found no
one there but Jessie & her deaf brother, with
whom I took T. Tom Bold had gone up the
day before to London, & neither of his sons were at
home. Jessie had a bad cold: so on Monday
I laid in a supply of some Jujube Lozenges (call
=ed “Delectable Lozenges”?) & of Keatings’ Cough deter
& I carried them over to Jesse as a New Year’s gift.
Tom Bold is now home again, but I have not
seen him since his return.
[6]
Yesterday morning, as I was walking town-wards on
the Park Road a gentleman dismounted from a
Gurston Railway omnibus, purposely to join me
& have my company for the sake of a talk. He
proved to be Mr. Geo: B. Shute (a friend of Mr.
Duncan Kennedy) whose regular home, in the
business season, is at N.O. where he represents
Gibbs Bright & Co. – He is now living at Runcorn
Gap with his wife & two young children. – On his
naming this, I said it reminded me of old times
when I was a child, before steamboats were intro
=duced on the river Mersey, & of Halton Castle,
& when Broker Gwathency was a gay youth, &
Wm. Brown surrounded by a numerous family of
children: & I said I had never seen Runcorn
again since those days: wheref [struckthrough] whereupon
Mr. Shute was most urgent that I should go
home with him some Saturday evening to renew
my acquaintances with these old haunts, & come
in again on the Monday morning. – I made a
sort of half promise that I would, if I remained
here until the early summer. Mr. Shute said
that when the news of the Trent &c. arrived, he
was rendered very anxious, as he was caught
with 1000 bales of Cotton in hand; – but he was
now nearly sold out. I told him that I had
been caught in like manner. –
Mr. Clunas is still here. Two days ago he
walked the greater up the way with me on my
return to dinner. He lent me there a pamphlet
containing a Lecture on American Institutions
delivered 12 mos. ago before the Philomathic
Society here, by one Mr. Samuel Smith, who
[7]
is well known to Mr. Gardner & Matthew as an
eminent cotton circular writer. – I have seldom
read anything in which the style is so is so
admirable; but the matter was unpalateable
enough; as it is a most sweeping condemnation
of the institutions in question. – I read the whole
60 pages aloud for the edification of our cousins
the same eveng., & returned the book to Mr. C__
at Mrs. Blodgett’s the following morning. –
I am very much of your way of thinking
as to the inexpediency of Sarah accompanying
Miss Dunning on her projected European tour.
But if Mr. & Mrs. Gardner were to go with Miss
D__, & bear her company throughout ["bear...throughout" underscored], then my
objections would be withdrawn. – In such a
case I should assume Sarah’s expenses all thro’
out, & not let her be a tax upon the purses of
her companions. –
If Cotton should now advance smartly
I intend to sell pretty freely. And I may
thus perhaps be ready to leave here for New
York before the lapse of 3 mos., or even of
2 mos.; as I fancy that North & South will
be ready to shake hands far sooner than
people here in general are dreaming of.
I hope your cook Mary is off the sick
list. – It was well that the grand break-
=down of your kitchen range was not attend
=ed with more serious consequences.
P.S. 9th I have just recd. Matthews letter of
4¾ p.m. 28th. by City of Washn. –
To-day I sold 195 bales Cotton at 13¼d., a price
which (for the quality) surprised me, & I hope
will please him. –
[8]
I have today written to Mrs. Frances Edge
=worth, according to Miss Ellen Mordicur’s
request months ago.
Yours affectionately
R Maury
Miss Maury [upside down]
