Manrigy’s Hotel
1 Regent St
Friday March 26th 1852
My dear Henry
My Waiting ends on the 29th Monday – i.e. I am out that night – so as to be free on Tuesday. – I shall stay in Town a very short time after that however – so I hope you will come in time to catch me – & ask Constance & Ammandier <1> if they have any commissions. If so they had better write at once.
I did not see in the papers what you mention abt Mr Gaisford <2> – nor do I think it can be true – because I had a letter from his Mother 2 days ago – & she said nothing abt it. She gave a charming account of little Horace. <3> I attended the Queen <4> at a levée <5> on Wednesday – & yesterday at a Chapter of the Thistle – on wh occasion Ld Saltoun<6> was admitted a member of the “most ancient & honourable Order”. It is a curious old sight – the Qn wore the Robes of the Order – a long dark green velvet mantle trailing on the ground, or rather carried by the two little pages of honor, over a dark blue velvet kirtle with hanging sleeves, lined with white Satin. Goodbye dear Henry
Yr affte Sister
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. Capt Thomas Gaisford (1816–1898), JP, WHFT’s brother-in-law.
3. Lt Horace Charles Gaisford (1851–1879), WHFT’s nephew.
4. Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Empress of India.
5. A morning assembly or reception. In Britain the word is particularly associated with the royal levees formerly held at St James’s Palace, official occasions when the sovereign received men only, most usually in the afternoon.
6. Lt Gen Alexander George Fraser, 17th Lord Saltoun (1785, Scottish Peer who fought in the Napoleonic Wars and the 1st Anglo-Chinese War.