Letter – Martin Morrison to Diana Beaumont – 16 Oct 1808

Mrs Beaumont Bretton						Teams 16 October 1808

	

Having returned from Weardale on Friday night I have to acknowledge the rec[eip]t of your Letter of the 9th instant and to communicate that the Leases are expected and possession taken of the Mines etc, as also is, the agreement for the Lot Ore: so that all intercourse with the Bishop is at an end and I hope for his Life, unless you may be induced to renew it by effecting on advantageous terms an exchange of one of the Old Lives. This morning I waited upon Alderman Blackett on the subject of the balance due from him; having rec[eive]d a letter from Mr Bowes he had replied to it, the purpose of which was to leave to reference his claim for a greater allowance of Salary than he has charged; and he now names Mr Walton Mr Forster and Mr Monkhouse, any one of whom he will leave quantum of Compensation he is entitled to, to be determined by. He read the heads of the Letters written to Col Beaumont on the 13 January 1793, setting forth his claim to £500 per annum  for attending your important & extensive Concerns and enumerating the allowance possessed by Mr Walton, Mr C[hristophe]r Blackett for purchasing Lead etc etc and lastly of a House, Horse & many other Privileges granted to Mr Richmond beside a Salary of £200 Per annum a sum, he says, Mr R[ichmon]d declared to be inadequate, and that if his health had allowed him to perform the duty of his Office longer, an augmentation would have been required. I urged him to name a sum (altho[ugh] unauthorized as I told him) that he co[ul]d either Pay or give Security for which I would submit to your determination, hinting that any abatement of what was due from him, was purely gratuitous on your part & that any longer delay might determine you to apply legally for the whole. I requested the letter or a copy of it, which he did not accede to as it was <interlined> & contained reference to other subjects, the substance of which however he is ready to make <Oathe>, was written on the abovement[ione]d date, on taking leave he still adhered to a Reference.	I am etc 

						MM