<crest, centaur and crown>

Bowood

Jan 6/69

Dear M^r Talbot

Thanks for your kind wishes for the new year. We were so sorry that we could not name a day, as you had so kindly asked us to, on which we might come to you the week before last – Though we never had a large party, our friends have kept dropping in by twos and threes ever since Christmas and we did not like leaving them the whole of the week for a day in which you were good enough to invite us, we had M. de Lavalette the French Ambassador in the house, he is a very old friend of my family. And being a foreigner we were naturally more anxious not to dine out during his stay than we should have been in the case of any one else.

Anther year if you are still as hospitably inclined we hope for better luck.

Yours sincerely

Lansdowne