Lacock Abbey
December Sixth
My dear Henry
I broke my long silence to you yesterday, & hope you received my letter. –
I am very much obliged by the intimation of Lady Elisabeth’s <1> return & hope Saturday will be a fine day for her journey. – Your Cousin Miss Talbot has sent you 2 packets of seeds this morning which she says were forgotten before – they are the White Betony & Lavatera ambigua. –
The enclosed came per post today – Miss Talbots letter was franked by her brother – by which it appea[rs]<2> that she & Lady Mary <3> are staying at Margam <4> – but in a fortnight she says they are going to Pentlegare [sic] to Mrs Llewellyn <5> – Lady Mary has not been quite strong – & the weather appears to have been as bad with them as elsewhere. – I have just made acquaintance with an old man who recollects the making of the Terra cotta images in the hall. – He recollects some foreigners coming to Lacock & baking the figures in the orchard – it must be about 80 years ago – for the old man is 86. –
H. F. Talbot Esqre
Sackville Street
Notes:
1. Lady Elisabeth Theresa Feilding, née Fox Strangways, first m Talbot (1773–1846), WHFT’s mother.
2. Text torn away under seal.
3. Lady Mary Lucy Cole, née Fox Strangways; (1776- 3 Feb 1855); married Thomas Mansel Talbot in 1794; married Capt Sir Christopher Cole (d. 1836) in 1815; WHFT's aunt.
4. Margam Park, Glamorgan: home of Christopher Rice Mansel Talbot.
5. Emma Thomasina Llewelyn, née Talbot (1806–1881), photographer; WHFT’s Welsh cousin.