The Cotman Letters 1838-1864

141
(Sept 12. 1839.)
(2)

Imagine me now smoking a nice Cuba cigar, as I do & am
doing, after a trip on business to South Lambert by steamer
boat, where I took wine & drank tea with my friend, the under
secretary of King's College - a very sweet place, quite in the
country, where perhaps I may live after our lease is out - for
it is sweetly retired amidst large {added - trees &} fields and near the
Thames, besides being cheaper than where I am now by
£60 per annum - quite retired, but still can be in London
for 4 pence or 6 pence at the most. This place your Mother,
Ann & Edmund will like much.
I have written five or six letters like this (fool's cap) full, & I
have told them to send them to you, as they will tell you of
all my doings, and by them you can judge of my present
health. They are miserable correspondents. They don't half pay
me in kind, even. They are so full that I can't go over them
again for you my lad. But the history may be cut short by
my telling you that they all relate to my voyages & so forth, up
& down the Thames, breathing health & spirits - no pun - not
Brandy or Gin or Rum, but pure animal spirits - a thing
much better a great deal, I assure you - which I advise you
to do, but by no means the other spirits, for they are a
deadly poison.
I have just found my almanac & by it I find Miles & Ann left
Tuesday, July 9th, for Birches. They will consequently, if they
return on Monday, Sept 21st, have been gone exactly eleven
weeks - a good round holiday. Pretty well, I thank you, but
no matter. So much the better, providing it has satisfied
them, and they have laid in a good stock of good health for their
London Campaign. My companions have been, besides your Mother
& Alfred, two dogs - one a pretty little Spaniel, white & red, I
have named {crossed out – Tittian} 'Titian', the others a picturesque Terrier,
Black & Tan - a good walkable companion, named Rubens.
The latter they know not of, so don't you blab. Titian I
have been told about. I bought Rubens of an excavator at