Came House,<1>
Dorchester.
9th December
My Dear Henry
Your Uncle Ilchester <2> desires me to say that he shall have room for you at Melbury, <3> & if he had not he would make it, as he is much pleased at the idea of your coming. He is now at Abbotsbury, <4> & returns to Melbury for the Season on Saturday the 17th – We have had the densest fog ever since we have been here, & have not once been able to see a yard from the windows, which as it is a very ugly place is the less to be regretted. au reste <5> the charms of this house are in the inside as it is very gay & agreeable.
Let me know when you think of coming Dorset-wise & we may perhaps return together, as I must settle my Xmas business at L. Abbey before I can start for Paris –.
Affly yours
E F
The fame of the christening the beauty of the South gallery lit up, & of the infant Hercules,<6> had spread into these parts before I came – so rapid is Rumour with her hundred tongues
[envelope - wax seal on verso:] Came Dorchester
Henry Fox Talbot Esre
Laycock Abbey
Chippenham
Wilts
Notes:
1.Came House, near Dorchester, the seat of Col. George Dawson Damer. His wife was Mary Georgiana Emma (Minnie) née Payne. She is mentioned in Harriot Georgiana Mundy, The Journal of Mary Frampton, from the Year 1779, until the Year 1846
(London: Sampston Low, Marston, Searle, & Rivington, 1885).2. Henry Stephen Fox Strangways, 3rd Earl of Ilchester (1787–1858).
3. Melbury, Dorset: one of the Fox Strangways family homes; WHFT was born there.
4. Abbotsbury, Dorset: home of William Thomas Horner Fox Strangways.
5. Besides, anyway.
6. The christening of Charles Henry Talbot 2 Feb 1842 - 26 Dec 1916), antiquary & WHFT’s only son.