| Description | 1st March
Dear Colvin
No names were mentioned in my letter to Lady B. Coutts & no one is in any way compromised - A letter which I have just received from Lady B.C. corroborates [MS. illegible] what I said to you in mine. - she had hoped tacitly to select some 18 young [earlier?] from the students of the R.[oyal] Acad[em]y S.Ken.[sington]and Brit.[ish] Mus.[eum] Reading Room. I regret very much that the exclusion she contemplates is more generally known. - she fully feels the difficulty of the question and had in the first instance offered £1500 for purchase of a house leaving the management to others - but this was declined. I do very earnestly hope that some means may be found of using so munificent an offer, if it still holds good, without inflicting pain on anyone or putting a brand on a certain branch of an artist's education. - I am very sorry Val is not to do Lord Strangford but am sure you supported him.
In haste great
Yours sincerely
Fred Leighton |