[this is written on the same sheet as a note from Caroline - see Doc. No: 02108]
Laycock Abbey
31st Decr
My dear Henry
I feel quite sure that if the huge excrescence was gone & the Gallery made into a pleasant room, you would like this Place & think it chearful, wher[e] <1> it cannot be now with that informe Mole <2> stuck before it. This Gallery resembles the old one at Hamilton Palace but with greater capabilities. Ly Lansdowne <3> & Mary Fox <4> spent the morning here yesterday, the House looked very comfortable & felt very warm, a great merit in this weather
When you are passing thro’ London I shall give you a commission to bring me a tooth brush in this shape [illustration] sold only by Mr Waite in Old Burlington St exactly opposite Lord Ilchester’s <5>
Mr Awdry dined & slept here the day before yesterday. He thought his room so metamorphosed & so comfortable Often as he has been here he has not slept in the house since it has been altered.
Calne January first 1830 Lansdowne <6>
Henry Talbot Esq
Post office
Brighton
Notes:
1. Possibly ‘which’. Written off the edge of the page.
2. Shapeless mound or ugly mass.
3. Louisa Emma Petty Fitzmaurice, née Fox Strangways, Marchioness of Lansdowne (1785-1851), wife of Henry Petty Fitzmaurice, 3rd Marquess of Lansdowne; Lady of the Bedchamber to Queen Victoria, 1837-1838; WHFT's aunt.
4. Lady Mary Elizabeth Fox (1806-1891).
5. Henry Stephen Fox Strangways, 3rd Earl of Ilchester (1787–1858).
6. Henry Petty Fitzmaurice, 3rd Marquess of Lansdowne (1780–1863), MP, WHFT’s uncle.