Hatfield House <1>
December 26th 1832
My dear Henry
I long to hear from you, but I suppose I must take patience in a bowl, till it pleases you to write to me – I imagine you have heard from Mamma <2> that after a great deal of deliberation & sundry changes backwards & forwards, it was settled we should leave the Baby <3> with Mamma, to be taken to Laycock till we go there – he had not been well for several days & we had a great deal of trouble to find him another nurse, as the Dorsetshire woman, to my great sorrow, did not agree with him – However we at last found a little Irishwoman who I hope will suit, & poor dear Mamma has had a great deal of anxiety & trouble about him, & staid several days longer in London till all this was settled – We came here on Monday, & if I did not hear from her today it was to be a sign she had left London –
We found here Ld & Lady Verulam <4> & a whole tribe of Grimstones of every age, bedecked with sky blue favours in honour of Ld Grimstone’s [sic] election <5> – She enquired very particularly after Kit <6> – Lady Cowley & her daughter <7> are also here, Mr Drummond <8> & Mr Sebright – they are to have tableaux next month, & pressed us very much to stay for them – they wanted Ld V. <9> to represent the Earl of Leicester, & me Flora McIvor, <10> but I do not think either would suit particularly well – they are all to be selected from Walter Scott’s <11> novels. Lady Lilford could not receive us on our way, so we shall go strait to Belton on Friday – pray write to me there – give my love to Constance <12> & believe me yr very affte
Sister Caroline
Lady Katherine Grimstone is a very nice person, agreable sings & draws very well, & I should think far preferable to Lady Georgina Russell –Addio caro <13>
Notes:
1. See Doc. No: 02590.
2. Lady Elisabeth Theresa Feilding, née Fox Strangways, first m Talbot (1773–1846), WHFT’s mother.
3. Ernest Augustus Edgcumbe, Lord Valletort, 3 Earl of Mt Edgcumbe (1797–1861), WHFT’s brother-in-law.
4. James Walter Grimston, 1st Earl of Verulam (1775–1845), and his wife Charlotte.
5. James Walter Grimston, 2nd Earl of Verulam (1809–1895), MP for Hertfordshire.
6. Christopher Rice Mansel Talbot (1803–1890), immensely wealthy landowner, mathematician & politician; WHFT’s Welsh cousin.
7. Charlotte Wellesley, Lady Cowley, wife of the 1st Baron Cowley, and her daughter.
8. Thomas Drummond (1793-1835), Scottish botanical collector; died in Cuba in early March 1835.
9. Ernest Augustus Edgcumbe, Lord Valletort, 3rd Earl of Mt Edgcumbe (1797–1861), WHFT’s brother-in-law.
10. Major character in Walter Scott’s Waverley.
11. Sir Walter Scott (1771–1832), novelist and poet.
12. Constance Talbot, née Mundy (1811–1880), WHFT’s wife.
13. Goodbye dear.