The Cotman Letters 1838-1864

From John Joseph Cotman 91.
to his brother, Walter.
Oct: 11. 1838. Norwich.
My dear Walter,
My principle object in writing to you now is to introduce to you the
gentleman who will be the bearer of this letter – Mr Duncan Cooper of
Norwich, who is about to take up his residence in Manchester. As a
friend of mine I know you will render him any kindness that
may lay in your power, and as a Norwich man and as one who is
well known to many of yr friends here I am sure you will be glad
to see him & to make his acquaintance. If you have leisure to
meet him often I think you will find him an agreeable companion.
At Chess I think he will be your master, unless you fight for it, for he
plays, in my opinion, a very good & steady game. This at least
will give some interest to your meetings, & when you write to
me you must report progress. Should he not find you at
home when he delivers this, if he leaves his address it will be
but right of you to call on him. Excuse my saying this much,
but I should be pleased to hear that you have made his
acquaintance, for he will be a perfect stranger in Manchester, &
you rather a lone man. I think it may be very delightful for
both of you.
As I told you in my last I am once more making my way in Norwich,
& hope soon again to have a house of my very own over my head to work.
I shall have the greatest possible pleasure in writing to you. I long for it
much on other accounts_the principle of which is I could thus occasionally have our dear Mother down to stay with me, although she {added - really} appears
to be better in London than even she was out of it. Still I think she w[oul]d so much
enjoy the change for a time at least. If not, I am sure I sh[oul]d . I look forward
with much pleasure to the prospect of seeing you here in the Summer. I
Sh[oul]d much enjoy the prospect(if I dare hold it to my eyes) of visiting you, but
Economy must be the order of the day for years to come. I do. However,
trust {added – that} we shall meet next Summer, at farthist. We are all well here & the accts
from London also passing well. I hope you will let me hear from you again
soon, for nothing gives me greater pleasure than to hear that you are well &
happy. Ann did not come down as I had expected, much to my disappointment. I have now only time left to say that I am your affectionate Brother
J.J.Cotman