Note 57 — Chapter IV · ToC
Reading edition
Letters from Lord and Lady Strangford to Leighton exist on matters concerning the East, on which both were great authorities.
"Will you accept," Lady Strangford wrote, "as a token of my admiration of your house, a piece of ancient Persian needlework? It is really old, and it is said that they no longer do anything of the kind in Persia, and that these pieces are valuable. I do not know if this is true or not, but if you like the thing, please use it among the many treasures you have already accumulated. It is to my eyes a nice bit of harmonious colouring. Let it say to you how much, how very much, I enjoyed your sketches.—Yours very truly,
E.A. Strangford.
"P.S.—I bought the work from a Persian at Antioch."
To Professor Church Mr. Aitchison wrote after Leighton's death: "I cannot urge the preservation of his home and surroundings, as I built the house, for there are always too many to attribute low motives to everybody, and it would be called personal advertisement; though when one's work is done it becomes almost impersonal, and if it did not, the fact remains the same, that here he (Leighton) lived and drew part of his culture and inspiration from his surroundings. As a mere matter of reverence, how many would come from all parts of the civilised world to see his abode!"