Letter from Joseph Farington, place not identified, to Sir George Beaumont, 1820 January 12 : autograph manuscript signed.

Thanking Beaumont for a gift of game; sending news of the death of Elizabeth Woollett, the widow of the engraver William Woollett; saying that Benjamin West's illness has progressed and he is "fast approaching towards his last period"; describing the state of West's intellect and spirits; saying that Francis Chantrey and John Jackson have just arrived from Italy, "both highly gratified with what they saw in that interesting country"; adding that Thomas Lawrence has reached Florence with Lord Elgin and, since he intends to travel also to Bologna, Venice and Parma, he will not return to England until February; saying that Chantrey and Jackson speak highly of Lawrence's portraits of Pope Pius VII and Cardinal Gonsalves; writing that he hopes Beaumont and his wife have not been suffering from "this trying weather. I keep to my old winter habit avoiding exposure to external air as much as I can and steadily going on in my arm chair by my fire side. Old Dr. Cheyne's [probably George Cheyne] advice is that by which I regulate myself"; commenting further on the weather in a postscript: "The Thermometer this morning at 8 o'clock was 18 degrees below the freezing point. -- The distress of the poor is inexpressible. Coals have risen to 63 shillings per chaldron, and daily rising. -- True English charity is indeed operating and great is the occasion for it. It has been found that the favourers of the Radicals are the least disposed to assist on this emergency."