Mr. Helbig’s frontispiece is in the Engraver's[1] hands. I have seen about engravings & think, although they cost more than I thought, that I shall be able to make a bargain when I return to town. Please to have the manuscripts of 2 numbers ready for my return as I think it will be well to get a specimen number out before the seminarists[2] return to Bruges.
I have seen to day Ely Cathedral which is magnificent beyond description p2p2& beautifully kept. There is one verger in the body of the church, one in the choir, and one in the chapels, and people are allowed to go everywhere & see everything without paying; the vergers are there, says a notice, to afford gratuitous information to those who wish for it. What a contrast to our Belgian churches.
To morrow I shall see Peterborough Cathedral & then go on to Burleigh & Rugby & Liverpool where I hope to arrive on Saturday morning. I shall be back in London on Tuesday. Will you kindly drop me a line at Mr. Westlake’s, Canterbury Road, Notting Hill, & tell me how Emily & the children are. I wrote her some days ago but she is I suppose too busy to write to me. I hope the children are good. Mr. Pyke,[3] who is just gone to Ireland desires to be kindly rememberedp3to you.
I think it would be well to write a short appeal to send with our first number to the clergy stating our aim & intention & urging them to make known & propagate the paper. It will be well to add that an account of the receipts & disbursements will be published at the end of each half-year & that all the profits will be devoted to the execution of large engravings which will be distributed gratuitously to subscribers. Thus every subscriber will be interested in pushing the sale p4of the paper. You must also write a note & get a number of copies made to send to those who may be likely to help us, for without a good many contributors I fear the thing will not live. I hope to be in Bruges on Tuesday week but cannot yet say for certain when I shall get back. I am much better for my trip, far better than I have been for a long time past, and so hope to be able to set hard to work when I return. I hope you are better than you were. Every Catholic I come across asks me all sorts of questions about your English College.
Although the 1st. numbers had better be printed at once, I think we should date them the 1st. & 8th. of November & then we shall be able to form an estimate of the number of our subscribers before we have to get the 3rd. No. out. So now you know the festivals[4] to get ready for the weekly