My dear Henry
We were very much disapointed [sic] at your not coming to Lanelay <1> & still more grieved that the cause was so painful, but as you said nothing in your letter to Mary <2> I hope Mr Feilding <3> is again better. Now you know better & worse are relative – as I have heard no particulars for a long time, I wish you would tell me how he is – is he able to go out airing &c & where is he at this present? I hope you will be able to enjoy yourself at Liverpool & to come here afterwards, as you intend, tho’ I cannot help you to any information about a Cottage near Bridgend – I cannot imagine what place Charlotte <4> meant for in this neighborhood Cottages are not palaces but literally what used to be so called. There is [sic] however comfortable houses to be had very cheap & such is the spirit of going “to & fro” that exists in these times, that I am sure you might have any house in the county for to hire, if you made the offer. I dare say the little Ela <5> is very entertaining now. when they are beginning to show by their observations that they have a mind they are very interesting.
Pray remember me kindly to Mrs Talbot <6> &
believe me your affe Aunt
M: L: Cole
Henry Fox Talbot Esqr
Lacock Abbey
Chippenham
Wilts
at the <9>
Marquis of Lansdownes <10>
Richmond
Surrey
Notes:
1. Llanely, or Lanely, Glamorganshire: home of Lady Mary Cole and Mary Thereza Talbot.
2. Mary Thereza Talbot (1795–1861), WHFT’s cousin.
3. Rear Admiral Charles Feilding (1780–1837), Royal Navy; WHFT’s step-father.
4. Charlotte Louisa 'Charry' Traherne, née Talbot (1800–1880), WHFT’s cousin.
5. Ela Theresa Talbot (1835–1893), WHFT’s 1st daughter.
6. Constance Talbot, née Mundy (1811–1880), WHFT’s wife.
7. 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.
8. Bowood House, nr Calne, Wiltshire, 5 mi NE of Lacock: seat of the Marquess of Lansdowne.
9. Readdressed in another hand.
10. Henry Petty Fitzmaurice, 3rd Marquess of Lansdowne (1780–1863), MP, WHFT’s uncle.