The Cotman Letters 1804-1833

May 31 - 1805

Mrs Dawson Turner (in Yarmouth) to D.T (in London.)

My dear Dawson
I am glad you have seen Cotman and that you are still on good terms. Does he talk of coming into Norfolk this summer?
I am not sorry your interview with Lady Fenn* was of the kind you describe: had she been very much charmed with you it would undoubtedly have been productive of that very intimacy which I have strived so hard to avoid - Our acquaintances are almost all visiting ones and the number is already too large. The idea of increasing it makes me quite nervous. Pray remember me to Miss Hancock.

I am, dear Dawson,
Y[ou]r affect[ionate?] wife
Mrs T.

[Eleanor (1743-1813) widow of Sir John Fenn, who brought the manuscript of the Paston letters from a chemist at Diss - He edited them & presented the originals to the king - for this he was knighted - He died in 1794 & was buried at Finningham, Suffolk. Lady Fenn was the authoress (under the names of Mrs Lovechild & Mrs Teachwell) of ‘The Child’s Grammar’, ‘Cobwebs to Catch Flies’ & ‘Short History of Insects.’ There was no issue of the marriage - D. N. B.]