Letter – Diana Beaumont to John Erasmus Blackett – 31 Oct 1803

J.E. Blackett Esq. Newcastle upon Tyne			Portman Square  Oct. 31st 1803



Dear Sir

      My little Infant has been so much Indisposed that my time has been completely occupied attending on her both Day & Night, w[hic]h is the reason of my not being so punctual as I hope you have in general found me to be in the Answering of Letters, & Col: Beaumont has every Day defer’d writing in hopes his Child would be better & that I should have leisure, she is now recovering & my Mind is more easy about her; I enclose a Copy Col: Beau’t has taken of the Memorandum of Terms agreed to upon our openg an Account with the House of Davison Noel & Co- w[hic]h we hope you will approve, the Day you favor’d us with your Sentiments respect[in]g Mr Davisons proposal we recd the same objections from Mr Bowns, he thought the terms not such that we ought to agree to, w[hic]h we informed them we could not do, & they offer’d to make an alteration of w[hic]h we informed Mr Bowns of the particulars, & desired he would draw up a regular agreement, w[hic]h he did, & sent to us & was agreed to by Col: B. & the Bank of Davison & Co; in consequence of w[hic]h we lodged 9,000£ in their House on the 26th of October, 5,000£ was our own Money that we took out of Morlands House on that Day when we closed our account finally with them, & the other 4,000£ was lent us by Mr Bosville, at his own express desire, & in the most handsome manner, he said we should do him a favour if we would take care of it for him for a few Weeks, or Months, till he wanted it, & let it remain quite without interest, for it had done the same for many Months in Morlands House, & wd continue so, if we had it not, therefore should Accept no Interest from us, on these terms we Accepted it, as it may be of some use to us, & can be no loss to him; I ought first to have told you Col: B. & I had an Interview with Mr Morland at Mr Bowns recommendation to ask on what terms they would make a Loan to us, or indeed if they wd make one at all, this I have before named to you I believe, & not receiv[in]g any answer Col: B- wrote to request their decision, when he rec[eive]d the enclosed Note, w[hic]h induced us to close our Account with them, & open one with Messrs Davison & Co., Mr Davison assured us if we should want 40,000£ they would not hesitate to advance it, & we are not to maintain the deposit of 5,000£ when we have it not in their Hands, but we are not to receive 4 per ct. for any Sum under that - - Mr Bowns thinks these are better terms than we could at this time have got probably from any other House, for we could not suppose Loraines House w[oul]d be will[in]g to advance us so large a Sum, & if two Houses did the Business each w[oul]d require a deposit, this Agreement is only for a Year, & when no advance is required, better terms may be enter’d into with Davison, his House is very popular and supposed very strong, the number of People that his Name & Influence has drawn from Morlands & the other Houses they say is very great, Mr Davison said he should write to Sir Wm. Loraines House, & say in making the Arrangement with his House, we had particularly requested & insisted on their open[in]g an Account with the House of Loraine & Baker, for all our Business to be transacted with them, this we hope will prove satisfactory to them,  we have requested Mr Davison will let us have a Monthly State[men]t of our Accounts with them, & have desired that Mr Thomas will pay our Rents into the Bank of Loraine to be placed to the credit of Davison & Co on our Account – I shall now feel satisfied on Account of our Money concerns, w[hic]h I have been very uneasy about, know[in]g the consequences to our Mines, & very much feeling Mr Burdons Conduct & Ingratitude, not to say worse, I fear my little Girl has been the sufferer, for I suffer’d so much anxiety after receiv[in]g Mr Burdons Letter that I have not from that time been well one Day, & lost my Zest entirely; - surely the Bank Committee must soon come forward with proposals, the Creditors cannot wait much longer, Morlands House will want their 62,000£ w[hic]h he said they were in advance, but it is supposed they are in advance to a larger Amount –

      Mr Mowbray may well be ashamed of his Conduct, nothing can be so base, & bringing so vile a Wretch as Algood forwards shews how infamous & ungentlemanlike have been their transactions, if it comes to a trial our Lawyers must be informed of their underhand transaction, to set forth the Conduct of the Bishop & his Agents in its true light, I suppose their examination of our Books is finished, Algood never adhered to truth, that any Assertions of his must be well examin’d –

      As my little Girl is so much better we propose setting out on Monday next the 7th for Bretton, change of Air is advised for her & me, as she lives entirely upon me; & we have so many alterations going forwards there that we shall be glad to go there for 3 Weeks & shall return in time for any Business com[in]g forwards in Parliament, we don’t take all our Family, only the 3 Youngest Children that are never from under my own Eye, & take no Servants but those we shall immediately want to attend on us –

      I am sorry the Lead Buyers don’t come forward, I think they imagine they can take advantage of our Situation, & that Money we must soon be in want of, but I trust the Arrangement we have made with Messrs Davison & Co. will prevent us from that inconvenience – I think Mr Bosville will have his Northumberland Rents go thru’ Davisons Bank after Xmas-

      Col: B. unites with me in best Comp[limen]ts 

      I am Dear Sir very Sincerely Yours

      D Beaumont

I enclose the Copy of Mr Morlands Letter & Memorandum of Terms with the Bank under another Cover as they w[oul]d make my Letter too heavy –