Autograph letter signed by Lady Elizabeth Eastlake to Catherine Sinclair c1850s

EASTLAKE, Elizabeth, Lady (1809-1893). Autograph Letter Signed, to Miss Sinclair [likely Catherine Sinclair], thanking her for an invitation. Undated, but c.1850s.
 
Autograph letter signed, 2 pp., written in brown ink on a folded bifolium. Remains of former mounting to the final blank page, otherwise in very good condition.
 
A short letter from Lady Eastlake to "Miss Sinclair", most likely the Scottish novelist and philanthropist Catherine Sinclair (1800-1864), author of Modern Accomplishments, Holiday House and numerous other popular works. Eastlake apologises for the delay in replying, and declines and invitation to dinner. She concludes by expressing pleasure at Miss Sinclair's recent remarks concerning the British Museum. 
 
Elizabeth Eastlake was one of the foremost women in Victorian art criticism, a regular contributor to the Quarterly Review, translator of major German works on art history, and the wife of Sir Charles Eastlake, President of the Royal Academy and first Director of the National Gallery. A pleasant social note between two victorian women of letters.