Laycock Abbey
26 May
My Dear Henry
I have just received your reproachful Letter, but before you left England I warned you <1> there could be no reciprocity in our Correspondence All that could be told from hence you have ere this heard from Constance <2> and now she desires me to give a message from her, that she has taken house at Clifton <3> for 3 weeks from the 29th and you are to direct to her No 5 - Glocester row [sic], Clifton. We go the same day to London. your [sic] Letters have been infinitely amusing, & I think you were were [sic] wise to take the journey leisurely & imbibe as much change of air as possible. Caroline <4> is in waiting at Claremont <5> which being a very pretty place she enjoys much. She begs you will pay Amandier <6> for the Music she sent her, and Louise Lansdowne <7> requests the same favour at your hands, for a bonnet she owes Louisa Galwey. <8> M Montgomerie <9> was to have done all this, but as he has been so ill he probably will not hear anything about it before he leaves Paris.
Poor Nurse More's happiness here (which has been very great) has been suddenly put an end to by hearing by this Morning's post that Julien Fane <10> is given over in a fever at Harrow - She is going immediately to him in hopes her care May recover him, his Father & Mother are both at Berlin Poor Ly Westmorland! <11> She lost a charming daughter of twelve yrs old not very long ago. I wish you had gone to Cantelin[?]
The weather has been so bad & raining that I the less regret leaving the Country - I hope you have more Sun where you are, or you cannot do much. Pray write soon & tell me how far the affair is advanced. Harriot Mundy <12> is inspired to give a Concert, I am quite surprized at this unusual hilarity - The Hungarian Lilac is not blue but very pretty. The Gueldre [sic] rose is one mass of blossoms -
Affly Yrs
E F
[envelope:]
Monsr.
Monsieur Talbot
Hôtel de Douvres
Rue de la Paix
Paris
Notes:
1. See Doc. No: 04818.
2. Constance Talbot, née Mundy (1811-1880), WHFT's wife.
3. Clifton, Bristol, on the Avon Gorge.
4. Caroline Augusta Edgcumbe, née Feilding, Lady Mt Edgcumbe (1808-1881); WHFT's half-sister.
5. Amélina Petit De Billier, 'Mamie', 'Amandier' (1798-1876), governess and later close friend of the Talbot family [See Amélina's journal].
6. A royal residence in Surrey.
7. Louisa Emma Petty Fitzmaurice, née Fox Strangways, Marchioness of Lansdowne (1785-1851), wife of Henry Petty Fitzmaurice, 3rd Marquess of Lansdowne; Lady of the Bedchamber to Queen Victoria, 1837-1838; WHFT's aunt.
8. Louisa Gallwey (1811-1872), dau of Lt Gen Sir William Payne Gallwey (1759-1831), 1st Bart, and Lady Harriet Payne Gallwey (1784-1845), née Quin.
9. Rev George Stephen Molyneux Montgomerie (1790-1850), close friend of Talbot family, artist, Rector of Garboldisham, near Thetford, Norfolk.
10. Probably the son of John Fane, 11th Earl of Westmorland (1784-1859), statesman.
11. Priscilla Fane, née Welleslley-Pole, Countess of Westmorland (1793-1879).
12. Harriot Georgiana Mundy, née Frampton (1806-1886), WHFT’s cousin & sister-in-law.