27 Duke Street, St James’s
7th Feby 1824
My Dear Mr F.
I returned to Town yesterday night from Melbury -<1> I hope you received my letter from Bowood, <2> and that from Abbotsbury. <3> At Moreton <4> I saw by good fortune my aunt Charlotte, <5> she was looking very well & cheerful; her account of Mr Lemon <6> is not comfortable his voice is so feeble as scarcely to be heard. They talk of Italy for their next winter. – You have heard I suppose that my aunt Susan <7> has been very ill. I saw her at Moreton however in appearance quite recovered, & gay as usual: but a second attack will be to be dreaded at her age – She is going to spend her 81st birthday at Melbury which she has set her heart upon. – Jane <8> is in Town (at 8 Montagu Square) looking very well & so does Johnny who is a fine child. <9> – Accounts of Chary from Penrice <10> are not good. William <11> is at Melbury, waiting his summons to the Hague. – Little Caroline Strangways Ld Ilchester’s youngest child is very pretty and intelligent, she is just 5 years old.<12>
Pray tell Car. & Hor. <13> they are by no means forgotten by their friends in England, I have been overwhelmed with questions about them, whether they have forgotten English and whether they are as agreeable and pretty as ever, and which is the tallest. I bring them two views of Penrice from Emma. -<14> I hope to see you all about the middle of March. I understand that Richard’s place at the Docks <15> is worth £80 per ann. – but that he is liable to be removed at pleasure – If you could get him permanently established there, I think you would do well to look out for another upper servant, as his late conduct has not been very good – At the same time however I think you would wish to secure him a permanent provision at the Docks, as great allowances are to be made for him, especially in his having a wife who is a perfect fury – I wish his daughter were placed in some family, as she seems a good sort of young woman & is horridly ill treated by her mother, to say nothing of the example she sets her. – Nicole <16> wrote to me the other day to know if I had any occasion for his services – I answered that I had not at present – I keep an eye on him, as I understand he is so good a servant, and I almost wish he were engaged as a supernumerary in the family that we might have opportunity of judging for ourselves, because as he speaks & writes English so well there would be no reason for parting with him on returning to England, which I must with Giovanni <17> next year, at least I am afraid so. – Nicole is now at Paris, if you write to me by return of post, direct to me at Paris, and after that to Lyons and Nice –
Yours afftly
H.T.
Monsieur
Monsieur Feilding
Gentilhomme Anglais
Gênes
Italie
Notes:
1. Melbury, Dorset: one of the Fox Strangways family homes; WHFT was born there.
2. Bowood House, nr Calne, Wiltshire, 5 mi NE of Lacock: seat of the Marquess of Lansdowne.
3. Abbotsbury, Dorset: home of William Thomas Horner Fox Strangways.
4. Moreton, Dorset: home of the Frampton family.
5. Lady Charlotte Anne Lemon, née Strangways (d. 1826), WHFT’s aunt.
6. Sir Charles Lemon (1784–1868), politician & scientist; WHFT’s uncle.
7. Susannah Sarah Louisa O’Brien, née Strangways (1743–1827), WHFT’s great aunt.
8. Jane Harriot Nicholl, née Talbot (1796–1874).
9. John Cole Nicholl (b. 1823), son of Jane Harriet Nicholl.
10. Charlotte Louisa 'Charry' Traherne, née Talbot (1800–1880), WHFT’s cousin. Penrice Castle and Penrice House, Gower, Glamorgan, 10 mi SW of Swansea: home of Christopher Rice Mansel Talbot.
11. William Thomas Horner Fox Strangways, 4th Earl of Ilchester (1795–1865), botanist, art collector & diplomat.
12. Caroline Margaret Fox Strangways (1819-1895), WHFT's cousin, m Sir Edward Clarence Kerrison in 1844.
13. Caroline Augusta Edgcumbe, née Feilding, Lady Mt Edgcumbe (1808–1881); WHFT’s half-sister, and Henrietta Horatia Maria Gaisford, née Feilding (1810–1851), WHFT’s half-sister.
14. Emma Thomasina Llewelyn, née Talbot (1806–1881), photographer; WHFT’s Welsh cousin.
15. Richard, a servant.
16. Nicholas Sisberg, servant. [See Doc. No: 01175].
17. Giovanni Percij.