Tuesday 13 July
My Dear Henry
You have not said in either of your letters whether you are going on to Margam, <1> so I suppose I may still direct as usual. I have been doing Kit <2> all the good I could, by canvassing Lady Clarendon & Lady Jersey, <3> who both say their Lords will certainly not oppose him. The account you give of your present occupations is very interesting & something like a novel. There is food for many a solitary day among the wormeaten M.S.S. of Laycock Abbey, & what you discovered of the birth of Thos Mansel Talbot <4> proves he was just the age of my Father which his friends always denied. Pray explain to me why the present plan for the Gallery should be more expensive than the others, it must be because of the elaborate & perhaps too florid ornaments of the windows, which are surely unnecessary. If it is about to be begun really I shall be impatient to get down there. I have asked several & shall more [sic] of those you mention & am going to order some things absolutely necessary for the bedrooms to make them comfortable We were at a Dance last night at Lady Caroline Burham’s[?], & there are small parties some where every night. We are going on a Water Party Friday with Lady Mansfield, <5> but I know of nothing beyond the Duchess of Bedford’s <6> Ball on the 20th I have just heard that your friend Mr Estcourt is to marry an heiress only 18 with or will have seven thousand a year, the daughter of Admiral something.<7> The night you went I met them at Lady Grey’s, <8> all three were rather gênés <9> in their manner to me, I made a point of being just as if I knew nothing. I have met them twice since.
Lord Jersey <10> is made Lord Chamber[lain]<11> which causes a great sensation in the beau Monde. <12> Tomorrow I shall send a parcel full of letters & notes as Mr F. <13> says that is the most œconomical way, franks being scarce – They mostly are bills & printed letters, or perhaps they are not worth sending. John <14> is in town & in much better spirits. Queste ferite d’amore per essere profonde non sono mortali, altramente [sic] moremmo tutti in gioventù. <15>
Adio caro mio <16>
We are going to night to drink tea at Lansdowne House, <17> afterwards to Lady Radnor’s, <18> & then to a Party at Lady Cowper’s <19> so we go on –
William Henry Fox Talbot Esqr
Laycock abbey
Chippenham
Wilts
Post office <20>
Chepstow
Monmouthshire
Notes:
1. Margam Park, Glamorgan: home of Christopher Rice Mansel Talbot.
2. Christopher Rice Mansel Talbot (1803–1890), immensely wealthy landowner, mathematician & politician; WHFT’s Welsh cousin.
3. Probably Maria Eleanor Villiers, née Forbes, wife of the 3rd Earl of Clarendon and Sarah Sophia Villiers, née Fane, Lady Jersey (1785–1867).
4. Thomas Mansel Talbot (1747–1813). [See Doc. No: 02021].
5. Frederica Murray, née Markham, Lady Mansfield (1774–1860).
6. Georgiana Russell, née Gordon, Duchess of Bedford.
7. Thomas Henry Sutton Sotheron Bucknall Estcourt (1801–1876), MP; he soon married, Lucy Sarah (d. 1870), daughter of Admiral Frank Sotheran.
8. Mary Elizabeth Ponsonby, Lady Grey (1776–1861).
9. Awkward, self-conscious.
10. George Child Villiers, 5th Earl of Jersey (1773–1859).
11. Text torn away under seal.
12. High Society.
13. Rear Admiral Charles Feilding (1780–1837), Royal Navy; WHFT’s step-father.
14. John George Charles Fox Strangways (1803–1859), MP.
15. These wounds of love however deep are not mortal, or we should all die young.
16. Goodbye my dear.
17. Lansdowne House, London: home of the Marquis of Lansdowne, WHFT's uncle and cousins.
18. Anne Judith St John-Mildmay (d. 1851), Lady Radnor.
19. Emily Mary Cowper, née Lamb.
20. Readdressed in another hand.