A fascinating collection of 41 manuscript letters dating from the 1790s to the 1820s. The letters are to Major General Ross, his wife Barbara Evelyn Isabella (maiden name Gunning) and one to Miss Isabella Digby. They are from Henry Robert Digby and Sir George Gunning (1763-1823) who became 2nd Baronet, following the death of his father, the famous diplomat Sir Robert Gunning. This unique archive contains a wealth of information about upper class life in the Georgian and Regency period. There are discussions about crops and the quality of venison, wrangles about military pay, thanks for a hansome new sword, comments on the King and Queen and an interesting description of social stife in 1796: "as you are in the habit of seeing Lord Sprncer I wish you would tell him that I very much apprehend this new Militia Bill will not go down in this county and carries with it a most alarming degree of unpopularity. It has of late been much discussed by the common people in my neighbourhood, who have to a man set their faces against it. The notice that was nailed up yesterday against the church, was this morning torn down, and from somebody who came from ? I hear the same thing has happened in every part of the town..."

Eight letters are from Gunning and thirty from Digby (possibly 33). H. R. Digby was the son of Charlotte Margaret Gunning (daughter of Sir Robert Gunning) and the Hon. Stephen Digby, handmaid and equerry to Queen Charlotte, wife of George III. The famous novellist Fanny Burney fell madly in love with Stephen Digby and was desperately unhappy when he married Charlotte Gunning. Charlotte, died soon after, and in one of the letters Henry Robert Digby writes to his aunt Barbara Evelyn Isabella Ross, "Oh, how well do you replace the mother we have lost, dearest adopted mother, how you and my uncle [General Ross] watch over us..."

I dont have the time to research this material in detail or to decipher the sometimes difficult writing, but I am sure they would reward close study. Some of the letters are from the Gunning country seat Horton House, in Northamptonshire. Others are from London, Windsor and various European cities. Some have the original addresses, postal marks and wax seals. There is an atmosphere of Jane Austen about the correspondence - at one stage Digby explains that most of his evenings are taken up with "balls and plays". A number of miltary figures are mentioned and included with the letters was an engraving of the explorer Captain John Ross, R. N., perhaps a relative of Major General Ross. These rare survival give a wonderful insight into a colourful and dramatic period of english history.