[this is written on the same sheet as a note from Lady Elisabeth - see Doc. No: 02261]
[The envelope for this letter is in a private collection:]
H. Talbot Esqr
31. Sackville St
London
___________
Melbury <1>
2nd Novr
My dear Henry
I received your letter from Paris, & am very glad you have had such pleasant mountain expeditions, & an agreeable companion who could keep up with you which is not so easy to find. We came here before our visit at Moreton <2> was completed, because Ld & Ly Belmore <3> expect every day to set off, & Uncle Harry <4> means to accompany them to Plymouth; but are going back there in a few days. I hope you will not stay long in London, but make haste & meet us at Melbury, where every body longs to see you, & then you can go on with us to Moreton, where you are no less anxiously expected. Christopher <5> arrived here two days ago, & I believe goes also to Plymouth with the Belmores. I do not like this way of making acquaintances to lose them immediately afterwards. both Ld & Ly Belmore are very goodnatured, much more so than their two sons, who went away some days ago. They are not a great loss –
Horatia <6> is much improved from her Cornwall excursion & riding, which we do every day here –
Je t’en prie de venir le plutôt que tu pourras, car nous n’avons plus bien longtemps a rester dans ces parages <7> – [illegible], minin linbur[?], Londres [illegible], ta sœur affectionnée <8>
Caroline
Amandier <9> t’envoie beaucoup de souvenirs et de compliments dans toutes ses lettres. <10>Addio
Notes:
1. Melbury, Dorset: one of the Fox Strangways family homes; WHFT was born there.
2. Moreton, Dorset: home of the Frampton family.
3. Somerset Lowry-Corry, 2nd Earl Belmore (1774–1841), Governor of Jamaica, and his wife, Lady Juliana, Countess Belmore, née Butler (1783-1861).
4. Henry Stephen Fox Strangways, 3rd Earl of Ilchester (1787–1858).
5. Christopher Rice Mansel Talbot (1803–1890), immensely wealthy landowner, mathematician & politician; WHFT’s Welsh cousin.
6. Henrietta Horatia Maria Gaisford, née Feilding (1810–1851), WHFT’s half-sister.
7. I ask you to come as soon as you are able, since we shall not stay much longer in these parts.
8. Your affectionate sister.
9. Amélina Petit De Billier, ‘Mamie’, ‘Amandier’ (1798–1876), governess and later close friend of the Talbot family [See Amélina's journal].
10. Amandier remembers you fondly and sends many greetings in all her letters.