Moreton ^<1>
Sat^y Night N^r 22

My Dear Henry

I hear from various quarters that you are in town, that you are coming Westward & the last accounts even say that you are to be at Melbury ^<2> next week – This being promised, I write to beg you will change your visit to Melb^y with me here, as your Uncle Harry ^<3> is coming to us the 3^d of December for some days, & L^d Cory ^<4> if he is still there besides other folk – Pray consent to my proposition & come here at latest Wednesday the 3^d – we shall be at home from the 1^st therefore it if suits you better to come then pray do but & you must stay at least as long as Harry does Let me know if you agree to my scheme, for you must recollect I am not like your Mother ^<5> who enjoys uncertainty & anxiety &c &c I must have a specific answer when & where & how – more especially as we shall be probably so full after Wednesday that you may chance to find no bed & a few of those inconveniences if you are as expected –Let me hear directly by return of post I long much to see you, & to get re-acquainted with you –

My d^r Henry Your Aff^e
H Frampton

We are twelve miles from Blandford, ^<6> from which place you had better take a Chaise, if you come that way – We shall dine at 6

Henry Talbot Esq^r
31 Sackville Street
London

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Notes:

1. Moreton, Dorset: home of the Frampton family.

2. Melbury, Dorset: one of the Fox Strangways family homes; WHFT was born there.

3. Henry Stephen Fox Strangways, 3^rd Earl of Ilchester (1787–1858).

4. Armar Lowry-Corry (1801-1845), Viscount Corry until 1841, then 3^rd Earl Belmore.

5. Lady Elisabeth Theresa Feilding, née Fox Strangways, first m Talbot (1773–1846), WHFT’s mother.

6. Blandford, a small historic market town on the River Stour in North Dorset district of Dorset, now noted for its Georgian architecture.