Sixty years ago, few men were more widely known in the world of art, letters, and society than Richard Ford, the author of the Handbook for Spain. A connoisseur of engravings, an admirable judge of painting, the interpreter to this country of the genius of Velazquez, he had no rival as an amateur artist. From his sketches Roberts made many of his best drawings; some were reproduced by Telbin, others appeared in the Illustrated London News and the Landscape Annuals of the day, or supplied illustrations to such books as Byron’s Childe Harold and Lockhart’s Spanish Ballads. One of the first critics who appreciated the beauties of the ceramic products of Italy, he formed a fine collection of Gubbio and Majolica ware, and the works of Giorgio and the Della Robbias. The contents of his Spanish Library, to which many of the prizes of the Heber sale found their way, were as rich as they were rare and curious. His taste was no less varied than sound, and few art treasures in clay, metal, and marble, were beyond his ken. Nor was his knowledge of the mysteries of cookery less profound, and Amontillado sherry and Montanches hams were introduced by him into this country. Well and widely read, gifted with a wonderful memory and a keen sense of humour, possessed of an extraordinary faculty for happy, unexpected turns of expression, full of curious anecdotes and adventures, he was a delightful talker. Entirely without the jealousy of the professed wit, he was an equally admirable listener. No man was a more welcome guest in society, none had more friends or fewer enemies.
In 1824 Richard Ford married Harriet Capel, a daughter of the Earl of Essex, who, as Lord Malden, had been an intimate friend of his father. The remaining facts of his life are sufficiently told in his letters.
The letters from Richard Ford printed in this volume are almost entirely selected from those which he wrote to Henry Unwin Addington, who in 1830 was Envoy Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary at the Court of Madrid. They were carefully preserved by Addington, and at his death were left by him to his wife, with directions that she should leave them to the widow of Richard Ford. It is by Mrs. Ford’s wish that they are now published.
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