Letter from Lady Catherine Ashburnham to Rupert Gunnis

Sends thanks for RG's article; CA has always had great admiration for the White Fathers; the French, Germans and Dutch make wonderful missionaries, although France itself is rotten to the core. CA is sending the bit of news which she thinks accounts for the paintings of Lady Anne Blount and Lady Newport which are at Ashburnham. It was interesting to find references to Sir Orlando Bridgeman in the deeds. Her archivist is learned but difficult in areas outside her proper sphere, and 'rather unnecessarily on the offensive'. Her work so far has been on the estate and its growth, rather than the genealogy. There has been another question from the lady about Pett and its church; she is an Anglo-Catholic and is always berating CA for the sad state of the church and Mr [the Rev Charles Sale] Pennington [vicar of Ashburnham].