Manrigy’s Hotel,
1 Regent St,
Saturday Feby 21st 1852
My dear Henry
I wish you would make me a report of the general health at Laycock, I know it is very fatiguing both to Constance & to Amandier <1> to write letters – but to you it is no trouble: & I am anxious to hear. I left Milord <2> last Monday still so poorly that Flora <3> remained with him instead of coming to Town with me, as intended. He is now better, & will I suppose set off on Monday for Mount E. <4>
Why do you not come up to Town while I am here, & during such an interesting crisis? It is too bad of Ld John’s <5> supporters to have thought more of their dinner than of the coming division. Numbers of them went away at that hungry moment – & Uncle Wm <6> who dined at Le House <7> gave me an amusing account of the comfortable quiet way in wh Shelbourne & Jem Howard <8> eat their dinner, drank their tea & coffee, & then drove leisurely back to the House of Commons which to their surprise they found shut; they were informed by a stray policeman of the fate of the ministry & reported it to Ld Lansdowne <9> accordingly. – Some think Ld John seized the pretext for going out before the Caffre debate next Tuesday, In the mean time Ld Derby <10> is out of Town, & no one can guess what will happen next.
There was a Dinner party at the Palace last night – in the course of the evg a Ministerial box was brought in to the Qn <11> wh no doubt contained the news – She was very Silent and abstracted afterwds I hope Amandier <12> is pleased with Louis Napoleon’s <13> decree on the Press?
Yrs affly
Caroline
Notes:
1. Constance Talbot, née Mundy (1811–1880), WHFT’s wife,and Amélina Petit De Billier, ‘Mamie’, ‘Amandier’ (1798–1876), governess and later close friend of the Talbot family [See Amélina's journal].
2. Ernest Augustus Edgcumbe, Lord Valletort, 3rd Earl of Mt Edgcumbe (1797–1861), WHFT’s brother-in-law.
3. Flora Mount Edgcumbe.
4. Mt Edgecumbe, near Plymouth: seat of the Earl of Mt Edgcumbe.
5. Lord John Russell, 1st Earl Russell (1792–1878), statesman; he was prime minister from 1846 – March 1852, and again from 1865–1866.
6. William Thomas Horner Fox Strangways, 4th Earl of Ilchester (1795–1865), botanist, art collector & diplomat.
7. Lansdowne House, London: home of the Marquis of Lansdowne, WHFT's uncle and cousins.
8. Henry Fitzmaurice, Lord Shelburne, 4th Marquess of Lansdowne (1816–1866), MP, and James Kenneth Howard (1814–1882), MP, husband of Lady Louisa Fitzmaurice.
9. Henry Petty Fitzmaurice, 3rd Marquess of Lansdowne (1780–1863), MP, WHFT’s uncle.
10. Edward George Geoffrey Smith Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby (1799–1869), statesman; attempted to form conservative ministry, 1851. He was prime minister in 1852, 1858, and 1866.
11. Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom (1837–1901), Empress of India (1876–1901).
12. Amélina Petit De Billier, ‘Mamie’, ‘Amandier’ (1798–1876), governess and later close friend of the Talbot family [See Amélina's journal].
13. Charles-Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte (1808–1873), President of the Republic of France.