Laycock Abbey
8th October
My dearest Henry
I am sorry it is your will to write so seldom, because every particular of your tour would have interested us. Our Nightingales continue to sing & to charm all Ears. Mr Bowles <1> & Ina Moghi have been here, both delighted & flattered at having been invited to hear the Syrens.
Lord V <2> – has fixed three several times for coming, & each time has been prevented either by a Call of the House, or being ordered to attend the King <3> at Windsor. The last time he was all packed up & the carriage at the Door. Now we expect him as soon as Lord Ebrington’s <4> Call of the House is over. Nothing can be nicer than the Gallery, I wish you or he had arrived last Night, the whole South front appeared illuminated & must have lookd beautiful from the road, in a dark night. Mr Bowles had not seen this place for 3 years, you may judge how he admired & exclaimed. Here is a list of the people who have been here since you went –
Lady Ilchester Mr Traherne <5>
Theresa Mrs Traherne <6>
Mrs Gent Lord Lansdowne <7>
Miss Gent Lady Lansdowne <8>
Miss Honorid Gent Dr Fowler <9>
Lord Henry <10> Mrs Fowler
Mr Moore Lady Louise Fitzmaurice <11>
Mr Bowles
Mrs Bowles <12>
Gwynne <13> returned from Oswestry last night, which will make the House go on much more comfortably
Henry Fox Talbot Eqr
Post Office
Shipton
Yorkshire
[illegible deletion]
31 Sackville Street
London
Notes:
1. Rev William Lisle Bowles (1762–1850), Wiltshire poet & antiquary.
2. Ernest Augustus Edgcumbe, Lord Valletort, 3rd Earl of Mt Edgcumbe (1797–1861), WHFT’s brother-in-law.
3. William IV (1765–1837), King of England (1830–1837).
4. Hugh Fortescue, Viscount Ebrington and 2nd Earl Fortescue (1783–1861), politician.
5. Juliana Maria Strangways, née Digby (d. 1842), and Rev John Montgomerie Traherne (1788–1860), JP & author.
6. Theresa Anna Maria Digby, née Fox Strangways (1814–1874), WHFT’s cousin, and Charlotte Louisa 'Charry' Traherne, née Talbot (1800–1880), WHFT’s cousin.
7. Henry Petty Fitzmaurice, 3rd Marquess of Lansdowne (1780–1863), MP, WHFT’s uncle.
8. Louisa Emma Petty Fitzmaurice, née Fox Strangways, Marchioness of Lansdowne (1785-1851), wife of Henry Petty Fitzmaurice, Lady of the Bedchamber to Queen Victoria, 1837-1838; WHFT's aunt.
9. Richard Fowler (1765–1863), physician.
10. Probably Henry Stephen Fox Strangways, 3rd Earl of Ilchester (1787–1858).
11. Thomas Moore (1780–1852), Irish poet, and Louisa Howard, née Fitzmaurice (d. 1906), daughter of Lady Louisa Emma Fitzmaurice.
12. Magdalen Bowles, née Wake (1772-1844).
13. Housekeeper.