Bowood <1>
July 31st 1814
My dear Mamma,
I came here very safe yesterday morning about nine oclock. There were in the same body with me, only two people at first, one of whom left us very soon. The other stayed all the way, & nobody else came in. She enquired particularly after Mr & Mrs Something or other at every stage: & how their sons & daughters were, & whether they were married yet, & ended always with saying that Mrs – was a worthy woman, & she had not seen her for several years. When I got to Calne, <2> I went to bed for a couple of hours. Ld Lansdowne’s <3> carriage came in the interim, & so I came here. Yesterday Ld L. rode to Bath & back: while Aunt Louisa <4> & I rowed about the water, & picked rushes & water lilies. – Aunt Mary <5> is not coming here: so they are going to take me to Melbury. <6> Only there is a difficulty about my trunk.
Yrs Affectionately
Henry Talbot
Calne July thirty first 1814 Lansdowne
Lady E. Feilding
Sackville Street <7>
London
Notes:
1. Bowood House, nr Calne, Wiltshire, 5 mi NE of Lacock: seat of the Marquess of Lansdowne.
2. Calne, Wiltshire, 5 mi NE of Lacock.
3. Henry Petty Fitzmaurice, 3rd Marquess of Lansdowne (1780–1863), MP, WHFT’s uncle.
4. 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.
5. Lady Mary Lucy Cole, née Strangways, first m. Talbot (1776–1855), WHFT’s aunt.
6. Melbury, Dorset: one of the Fox Strangways family homes; WHFT was born there.
7. 31 Sackville Street, London residence of the Feildings, often used as a London base by WHFT.