Letter – William Blackett to John Erasmus Blackett – 9 Feb 1804

Thorpe Lee Feby 9th 1804

My Dear Sir

      I wrote to you a very short letter some days ago with an account of the Melancholy event which took place here on Friday last; we have now settled every thing with regard to the Funeral, I sent for a man from Town who is much in that way of business & it is to set out from hence for Ripon on Saturday Morn. Early; I have written to the Dean who will be kind enough to order preparation to be made there; The Coachmen & the Butler will go from hence with it, & Mr Bates will be at Ripon a day or two before they arrive they propose travelling about thirty miles a day, there will be six horses to each carriage & eight men on horseback but the undertaker goes down himself with it I hope everything will be well conducted as I should wish to pay every proper respect to the memory of so worthy a good man, & I hope my Uncle Harry will be kind enough to let me know what is proper to be put upon the Monument, which by & by maybe made at York; The contents of the Will I dare say as much surprise you as <they do> us; <I ...> had not been so often assured by my Father himself that the estate would come to us at his death I should not have been so much hurt; I fear my Wife's family will have reason to be much displeased as when he <... ….> my Father frequently told Mr Keane that we should <have> an Income of near ten thousand a year at his death, whereas <now we are> left quite <dependant> upon my Mother, with only five & twenty hundred a year, the Yorkshire & Durham estate, out of which in <six> Months I must raise five thousand pounds to pay part of my Sisters fortune, my Mother says on account of her Daughter <Nancy> she cannot give up the estate to me as she thinks she should have been left much more therefore she will live here on a <crust & scrape every thing> for Mrs Scott; My Mother who is perfectly well may live this ten years; & I am now at that time of life I should wish to enjoy the estate, ten years hence my plans of life will be formed, I shall probably take a small place in the South, & the North which we have looked forward to with much pleasure & which my Wife is particularly fond of will be deserted <she may> not then like to move, If my Uncle Harry was to write to my Mother, it might perhaps bring her to reason, I shall never ask her for any thing, it is a subject I cannot mention to her, & indeed she has behaved so very ill to my Wife since we have been here that I shall be very glad to get out of the house; Since we have been here which is more than three Months she has never once mentioned or once enquired after our dear little boy & never once thanked my Wife for coming up night & day to my poor Father, however we have nothing to reproach ourselves, & we have very great satisfaction in thinking that we contributed much to the comfort of his latter days, he was continually sending for my Wife & he kept her for hours together by his bedside talking to her, when <from> his Situation poor man it was at that time very unpleasant.  My Mother says she wishes to see none but Mrs Scott & she intends sending money over for her to come if possible, she says when she is at Thorpe she can consult her upon all occasions & she told us her being there would keep other people from this house; so that when we go on Monday we cannot come here again <with haste>. We found a copy of the Will the drawer of my Fathers writing table where he kept his pens & paper which was unsealed rather dirty & <seemed to have been often looked at.

      I am very sorry to give you so much trouble about these affairs but I cannot help being much vexed & hurt; we have now been here more than three months & have hardly been out of the House & <now receive no> thanks for it; Mr Chiswell came here yesterday and will probably stay a couple of months; Mary Anne says she never quitted this place without regret before, my poor Father was always so kind to her & was always so glad to see her. You will be kind enough in future to direct to <Harley St>; & Mary Anne joins with me in kind love to Mrs Collingwood whose letter received this morn - & believe me Dear Sir from your very Affect. nephew 

      W Blackett