ROLFE, Frederick William (1860-1913). 'Baron Corvo', writer.
Fine Autograph Letter Signed to [Churton] Taylor, 1 page large 4to in his neat calligraphic hand concluding vertically at the left hand side, St Alphege, Broadstairs, 1 March 1905. To his lawyer, discussing the progress of a case brought by Rolfe against Colonel Owen Thomas in response to threats from Thomas resulting from Rolfe's unwarranted demands for money.
The letter continues with news of his mother, with whom he was living in Broadstairs at the school for little girls which she ran, and mentions Oscar Browning, [Robert Hugh] Benson and [Father Charles Sidney de Vere] Beauclerk and others, stating his wish to bring the latter and two other jesuits to Taylor's office 'to see the Borgia Genealogy', i.e. one of the literary works which Rolfe had pledged to Taylor in exchange for a series of small allowances.

'Delay due to the serious state of things here. I see that you omit Colonel Thomas's letter of XX July, giving me 48 hours notice of his intention to arrest me & threatening me with those two priests. This letter is the causa causans of my action against him. ... I shall be glad of a cheque. My Mother causes me great anxiety & I am tired out myself (mentally). ... It seems impossible for me to accept Oscar Browning's invitation [to bring him the Borgia genealogy for inspection] as things are. Both Benson & Beauclerk have written again, the former asking for a meeting, the latter asseverating his friendship. I don't believe in the last a bit: but I have told him that he may bring Father Sikes (the Provincial S.J.) & Father Thurstan (the historian of the Soceity of Jesus in England) to your office to see the Borgia Genealogy. That is the test of his bonafides. ...'

The 'two priests' to whom Rolfe here refers are presumably Fr Oswald O.S.B. (his secular name being Sir David Hunter Blair), and George Angus, who had, he believed, been 'calumniating' him for years.
Provenance: Boston University, Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center, deaccessioned manuscript.
See also, Corvo, by Donald Weeks, 1971, page 249, where the letter is briefly quoted.
[No: 24173]