Autograph Letter Signed from John Wishaw, Secretary to the African Association, to the Whig MP James Loch of Bloomsbury Square, regarding the picture galleries of Lord Stafford and Lord Grosvenor, also George Canning, Lord Brougham and elections.

2pp., 12mo. 40 lines. Bifolium. Good, on aged paper. The reverse of the second leaf carries half of a red wax seal, as well as the address to 'James Loch Esqr | Bloomsbury Square'. The letter begins: 'My dear Loch | Some friends of mine from the Country are desirous of seeing Lord Stafford's & Lord Grosvenor's pictures some time next week; & they understand that the obtaining of Tickets is not a matter of course but that some little interest is necessary.' He asks for assistance 'with regard to Cleveland House [...] for Mrs Johnston & party (about 5 or 6 persons)'. He is going 'to the Cambridge Election' on the following day, and thinks that it will be 'very keenly contested'. On his return he hopes 'to attend the Council of the London University', when he hopes 'that Horner's business will be finally & satisfactorily settled'. He has heard 'nothing more about Silk Gowns', but 'Willy Brougham [...] persists in retaining his appointment and will not be scared into resignation, like Plunkett, by the Chancery Lawyers.' In the last paragraph he deprecates the news that 'Lord Exeter is to have one of the blue Ribbands, though he is no friend of Canning's, & indeed closely connected with the high Tory opposition'. This is, in his view, 'one among many instances of C's weakness, & entire dependence upon the higher power.' There is no mention of Loch in Lady Seymour's 'The "Pope" of Holland House, Selections from the Correspondence of John Whishaw and his Friends, 1813-1840' (1906), and the year 1827 is skirted over.