Sunday
My Dear Henry
I wish you would tell me the day of the Assizes <1> which is of some consequence to me, as the Drawing Room is on the 5th and I am afraid my new servant (that is to be) will not be able to leave his place by that time, so that I shall be on the [illegible], unless the assizes happen to be after that time. I think by this time you must be in possession of all the arrangements, so pray let me know. Yesterday we dined at Lansdowne House. <2> I met there Mr Sedgwick & Dr Buckland <3> who I got acquainted with, for he sat next me at dinner & is not shy. [illegible deletion] He expressed a wish to see some of your circular crystals, which I promised to send him. But where are they to be had?
They all abused Arago <4> & said he made the French hate the English, but Mr Hayward (the translator of Faust) <5> said Arago had not influence enough in France to produce such an effect. Dr Buckland displayed several views of the Landslip at Lyme & explained its causes.
The cold is excessive & we feel it more after the muggy winter. All the pipes are frozen which is miserable. Mr Moore <6> is still here, & Russell <7> is to sail for India in March. I write you everything & you send me meagre replies. –
Monday –
This is a case of real distress, I was told the assizes were at Winchester the 5th of course at Salisbury several days after. It is to be hoped that Lady Caroline Wood <8> will part with her footmen sooner that she at present intends, or I shall be literally without anybody. I suppose as you say nothing about hats you accede to the round ones. Constance <9> broke the bad news to Horatia <10> very gently and tenderly – but she is very painfully affected by it, and has cried to that degree that she cannot appear this Evening at Lady Mintos! <11> She looks upon it as the last living relic of –
Poor Horatia! Her heart is too tender for this rough world.
William <12> is the only one of the family that is perfectly calm & philosophical in the reverse of fortune. Louisa <13> wrote to Lord Melbourne & Lord Palmerston, <14> and talked to Lord Holland & Lord John, <15> & has Exerted herself as much as is possible to do. Today She is to talk it over with Lady Palmerston, <16> but it is difficult now for Lord P– to undo because Lord Leveson & Mr Abercromby <17> have got what they asked for. Wm is still going on at the Foreign Office. I am glad to see there will be a contested election at Morpeth to plague them. Lord P. kept it a secret from Wm that Lord Leveson was to vacate his seat, on purpose to prevent a Tory contesting Morpeth. I know nothing of Caroline, <18> she never writes, Amandier <19> is at Hopwood Hall, Old Miss H. who was always her great friend in the family is become Superannuated & in a very melancholy state
Wright <20> begs you will recollect that the Coachman’s hat should match the footmen’s & hopes you will not forget to send the measure of his head that Lincoln may make them all at the same time & alike, or if the Coach Man’s is made in the Country he thinks he should send an exact description of these. He falls into despair when the post comes in & brings no answer from you to all these questions. He says he is willing to take any trouble for you if you will only say what the things are to be, & indeed now there is no time to be lost. So pray do answer by return of post.
I am writing in the greatest hurry – Carriage at the door & millions of things to do, so I can’t read over to see if I am clear
Notes:
1. In law, a session, or sitting, of a court of justice.
2. Lansdowne House, London: home of the Marquis of Lansdowne, WHFT's uncle and cousins.
3. Adam Sedgwick (1785–1873), geologist, and William Buckland (1784–1856), Dean of Westminster & scientist.
4. Dominique François Jean Arago (1786–1853), French physicist, astronomer & man of science.
5. Abraham Hayward (1801-1884), a man of letters especially known for his 1833 prose translation of Faust. It was based on the 1823 publication by Lord Francis Leveson Gower of Faust’s A Drama by Goethe.
6. Thomas Moore (1780–1852), Irish poet.
7. John Russell Moore (1823-1842), the son of Thomas Moore (died in India).
8. Lady Caroline Wood, Principal Woman of Bedchamber from 1830 to 1837.
9. Constance Talbot, née Mundy (1811–1880), WHFT’s wife.
10. Henrietta Horatia Maria Gaisford, née Feilding (1810–1851), WHFT’s half-sister.
11. Mary Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, née Brydone (1786–1853), wife of the 2nd Earl Minto.
12. William Thomas Horner Fox Strangways, 4th Earl of Ilchester (1795–1865), botanist, art collector & diplomat.
13. 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.
14. William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne (1779–1848), and Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston (1784–1865), statesman.
15. Henry Richard Vassal Fox, 3rd Lord Holland (1773–1840), and Lord John Russell (1792–1878), whig MP and statesman, Prime Minister from 1846 to 1852 and again from 1865 to 1866.
16. Lady Emily Lamb Palmerston (1787–1869).
17. Lord Francis Leveson-Gower, and Ralph Abercromby, the son of James Abercromby, 1st Baron Dunfermline (1776–1858). [See Doc. No: 04039].
18. Caroline Augusta Edgcumbe, née Feilding, Lady Mt Edgcumbe (1808–1881); WHFT’s half-sister.
19. Amélina Petit De Billier, ‘Mamie’, ‘Amandier’ (1798–1876), governess and later close friend of the Talbot family [See Amélina's journal].
From June 1828 - September 1831, Amélina was a companion to the family of Robert Gregge-Hopwood (1773-1854) and the Hon. Cecelia, née Byng, daughter of John Byng, 5th Viscount Torrington, at their home of Hopwood Hall, between Middleton and Rochdale, Lancaster.20. James Wright, footman to the Talbots & Constable for Lacock.