Henry Crabb Robinson, Bury St Edmund, to Joseph Hunter, March 1860.

My dear Sir,

      It would give me pleasure to know that you have borne this ungenial weather without suffering from it And that your general health is as good as it was a fortnight since.

       Of myself I have nothing better to say than that the giddyness that troubles me and the spectres which would amuse me if they were not symptomatic of something functionally wrong in the organs of digestion are not quite so frequent and severe as they were – This has been a melancholy house, And perhaps the state of the family has tended to make me more susceptible than I used to be of cold – The internment took place on Thursday the 23d – I expect to return to London towards the end of next week – My niece is improved in health, but she does not recover her spirits as I expected.

       You have several times enquired whether Lady Cullum had mentioned how the Autograph in question came into the possession. This she has done now And also explained the paragraphs which have appeared in the Athenaeum &c          

       There were formerly living at Bury two families of the name of Symons or Simonds – spelling uncertain – And there was also a W. Ranby – a Gent: who lived in the great Harvey House on Honey Hill – whose wife was a portly dame called Queen of Bury – And he was a man of Aristocratic pretensions – He gave the Receipt in Question to Sir Thos Geary Cullum – who lent it to Mr Dawson Turner in 1829 – He retained it till 1841 when on the application of the late Revd Sir T. C. it was returned.

      It was, on an examination of the Catalogue of the Hardwick Library, discovered to be in W. Turner’s possession by several circumstances – I am told that there is a facsimile and an inscription in the Gentleman’s Magazine July 1822 – When it was returned without any hesitation, it appeared that a copy had been made on an old leaf of yellow paper and it seems that the leaf was torn out of a folio Vol:

       When the inquiry arose after the Sale, the apprehensions of the Auctioneer – Mr Puttock, or some thing like it, sent to America for the purchased article – And Miss Turner wrote a very handsome letter to Lady Cullum requesting permission for Mr P. to compare the two articles – He did so, and declared that the inspection was quite sufficient to decide the question – The purchase money was returned to the purchaser and Miss Turner begged Lady Cullum to accept of the Copy – She therefore was willing and desirous to let the matter sleep. The family seemed desirous to act with delicacy towards all parties.

       D. T. put the copy under a glass – This was considered as a token of honour – At the same time it concealed the fact that the paper was part of a fol: Vol I have surely been out of the house since I came here – And have had occupation enough to fill up my time, tho’ not of the pleasant kind.

      I beg my kind remembrances to Miss Hunter and Mr Sylvester – I shall not delay paying my respects to you on my return

                         Very truly yours

                                    H. C. Robinson

Jos: Hunter Esqr

Louis Nap: is I dare say well read in English and maybe acting as a couplet by Pope on the present occasion

                        “Tired, not defeated, forced at length to yield

                         And what comes next is Master of the Field

Passive resistance may beat at last

Text: Joseph Hunter Papers, Add. MS. 24874, f. 268, British Library.