Henry Crabb Robinson, 2 Plowden Buildings, to a Robert Rolfe, 16 March 1836.

My dear Rolfe

       If ever you see the Chancellor of the Exchequer sufficiently at leisure to attend to a subject but in a slight degree connected with his office, And interesting to him as a matter of taste you will oblige me by imparting to him the contents of this note.

       It respects the collection of Flaxman’s plaster casts, which will probably be soon irrecoverably lost to posterity unless Miss Denman’s offer to the government be accepted. I am very sure that Mr Spring Rice would consider this as a national loss. The danger arises in this way –

       These articles are bulky and to any [f. 105v] private person a damnosa hereditas

      You are aware that Flaxman whom Italians & Germans estimate so highly and whom Mr Spring Rice has appreciated so correctly, after living a long and laborious life left a property of between £3000 & £4000!!! Miss Denman his Sister in law has with economy the means of living comfortably, but it requires management. The preservation of her brother’s remains is the great object of her life almost. But she cannot afford to hire a warehouse for them, nor incur the expence of removal. And there is reason to fear for family reasons that they must be taken from Buckingham Street – There can be no doubt that offerd as they are for nothing to the government [f. 106r] they might be at a very very slight expence repaired cleaned & put up in a portion of the intended National gallery – The Flaxman hall would be unique – The French government would not pause an instant in securing it. In a few years, perhaps months, they may be lost to the world –

      Miss D: as you know offers them demanding nothing but that they should be set up in a manner suitable to their worth –

      I have personally entertained hopes that if the articles be accepted, the liberality of the government would induce it to offer some little compensation in the form of purchase to avoid any reproach from the economists, but this is only my hope and never entered [f. 106v] into her mind when she first mentioned the subject to me –

       Excuse the liberty I take in troubling you with this note

            Most truly yours

                                    H. C. Robinson

2 Plowden Buildings

16 March 1836

Text: Add. MS. 45224, f. 105, British Library. Rolfe (1790-1868) was a lawyer on the same circuit as HCR during his time as a barrister.  He became 1st Baron Cranworth and served on two occasions as Lord High Chancellor of England.