At Whitchurch.
In August he is writing from the country in high spirits as usual, and planning out much work for the future. Bracebridge Hall was finished, and the success of Old Christmas had brought him many commissions. His illustrations on wood had turned out well, being fortunate in his engravers, especially Mr. J. D. Cooper and Mr. Edmund Evans, who always rendered his work with sympathetic care. He may also be said to have been fortunate in his connection with the Graphic newspaper under the direction of Mr. W. L. Thomas, the artist and wood engraver.
But alas! in the autumn of this year his health failed him, and in October he was advised to go to Buxton in Derbyshire.
On the 2nd November, 1876, he writes:—
At Buxton
"I am as above. Walking solemnly in the gardens, or sitting limply in the almost deserted saloon listening to an enfeebled band."
The result of that visit was a series of delightful sketches, which appeared in the Graphic newspaper, the originals of which are in the possession of Mr. Samuel Pope, Q.C.