Friday Decr 12th
My dear Henry
Caroline <1> & her party are all with us – in good spirits & well – Horatia <2> is particularly lively as she always is when Caroline is near her – Tomorrow we are to have Lord & Lady Shelburne <3> to dinner & Ld Lansdowne <4> & Mr & Mrs Sotheron <5> & Mr Awdry <6> – Lady Shelburne <7> is delighted with the thoughts of coming – & so afraid at first that Lady Lansdowne <8> would forbid her on the ground of imprudence –
I had a very pleasant luncheon at Bowood <9> on Thu Wednesday with Matilda <10> who dined there with her Cousins – I saw Lady Louisa <11> & her Baby <12>– and I ought not to forget to mention the flowers – of which there was a splendid show, arranged with Mr Spenser’s usual taste.
Caroline & Horatia think you ought to have favored us with your comments on the aspect of political affairs – in the present crisis. <13> – and I should like some on your own welfare.
Caroline has seen the Prince of Wales’s <14> pictures – but I have not pressed for her deliberate opinion: as when she looked at them there were too many people present – to talk it over comfortably. – She says the colored one has assumed a totally different expression from the print – I don’t think it nearly so pretty as when it was only half finished. <15>–
Mr Awdry has transmitted to me the enclosed –
Your affectionate
Constance.
Notes:
1. Caroline Augusta Edgcumbe, née Feilding, Lady Mt Edgcumbe (1808–1881); WHFT’s half-sister.
2. Henrietta Horatia Maria Gaisford, née Feilding (1810–1851), WHFT’s half-sister.
3. Sir Henry Petty Fitzmaurice, Lord Shelburne, 4th Marquess of Lansdowne (1816–1866), MP and WHFT's cousin, and his second wife, Hon Emily Jane Mercer-Elphinstone-de Flahault, Baroness Nairne (1819-1895).
4. Henry Petty Fitzmaurice, 3rd Marquess of Lansdowne (1780–1863), MP, WHFT’s uncle.
5. Thomas Henry Sutton Sotheron Bucknall Estcourt (1801–1876), MP; and his wife, Lucy Sarah (d. 1870), daughter of Admiral Frank Sotheran.
6. West Awdry (1807–1892), solicitor, Chippenham.
7. See note 3.
8. 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.
9. Bowood House, nr Calne, Wiltshire, 5 mi NE of Lacock: seat of the Marquess of Lansdowne.
10. Matilda Caroline Gilchrist-Clark, ‘Tilly’, née Talbot (1839–1927), WHFT’s 3rd daughter.
11. Louisa Howard, née Fitzmaurice (1813–1906), daughter of Louisa Emma Fitzmaurice.
12. Kenneth Howard (b. 1845).
13. Sir Robert Peel (1788–1850), the Prime Minister, had resigned, amid much politcal infighting which for several weeks bedevilled attempts to form a new government.
14. Edward VII (1841–1910), King of Great Britain and Ireland from 1901.
15. See also Doc. No: 05463.