Dear Mr Talbot –
I cannot hear of your being all at Lacock without desiring most earnestly to obtain from you some account of Lady Elizabeth & your Sisters. <1> I hope and pray that you may be able to tell me that they are recovering to a certain degree that composure which must have been so completely destroyed by so severe a trial as they have had to undergo – and that they are regaining their health – I have felt most sincerely for them, and most truly lament for myself the loss of so kind and long tried a friend as was Admiral Feilding <2> to me – Pray excuse me – and with my best Compliments to Mrs Talbot <3>
Believe me Yours very Truly
D Methuen
Corsham House <4>
Monday
Notes:
1. Lady Elisabeth Theresa Feilding, née Fox Strangways, first m Talbot (1773–1846), WHFT’s mother, Caroline Augusta Edgcumbe, née Feilding, Lady Mt Edgcumbe (1808–1881); WHFT’s half-sister, and Henrietta Horatia Maria Gaisford, née Feilding (1810–1851), WHFT’s half-sister.
2. Rear Admiral Charles Feilding (1780–1837), Royal Navy; WHFT’s step-father.
3. Constance Talbot, née Mundy (1811–1880), WHFT’s wife.
4. Corsham Court, Wiltshire, 3 mi NW of Lacock: seat of Ld Methuen.