London
Friday
6th July
My dear Henry
I am happy to say we have a much better account of Ld Mt E. <1> this morning wh I accordingly sent off by the Q’s <2> messenger so I hope C. <3> will get it this afternoon. Mr Fayrer <4> does not say how long it is likely to be before he can travel – as the fever had not quite left him I hope this favorable change of weather will hasten his recovery – & do you all good. Really till yesterday th it was so chilly & miserable I made my cold worse every time I went out – now perhaps it will go at last.
I went yesterday with Aunt L. <5> all over the new Palace of Westminster – the H. of Commons is not near ready yet. There are some parts quite beautiful – but what a pity to colour the stone! – it gives it all the effect of painted wood. I dined at L. House <6> & met the Bp of Oxford, Macaulay, Hallam Ld Eastnor <7> &c Aunt L. asked poor Emily Eden <8> if she would see me & she said she would like it very much It will be a painful visit but I shall like to see her. I have subscribed for the print of Ld A. <9> at Dickinson’s. 2 of Kit’s <10> children have got the scarlet fever – I am sorry as they are so delicate but I hope Olive will escape. I don’t think it would have been a good plan rushing down to Laycock for a few days – now I shall hope to be there long & comfortably Love to all
yr aff
Horatia
[envelope:]
Henry Fox Talbot Esqre
Laycock Abbey
Chippenham
Notes:
1. Ernest Augustus Edgcumbe, Lord Valletort, 3rd Earl of Mt Edgcumbe (1797–1861), WHFT’s brother-in-law.
2. Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom (1837–1901), Empress of India (1876–1901).
3. Caroline Augusta Edgcumbe, née Feilding, Lady Mt Edgcumbe (1808–1881); WHFT’s half-sister.
4. See Doc. No: 06188.
5. Louisa Emma Petty Fitzmaurice, née Fox Strangways, Marchioness of Lansdowne (1785-1851), wife of Henry Petty Fitzmaurice, 3rd Marquess of Lansdowne; Lady of the Bedchamber to Queen Victoria, 1837-1838; WHFT's aunt.
6. Lansdowne House, London: home of the Marquis of Lansdowne, WHFT's uncle and cousins.
7. Samuel Wilberforce (1805–1873), bishop of Oxford (1845), and of Winchester (1869); Thomas Babington Macaulay (1800–1859), MP & historian; possibly Henry Hallam (1777–1859), historian; Charles Somers, 3rd Earl Somers, Viscount Eastnor (1810–1883).
8. Emily Eden (1797-1869), one of Lord Auckland's sisters.
9. George Eden, 1st Earl of Auckland (1784–1849), Governor General of India, who had died on 1 January. By March, Mssrs. Dickinson & Co., 114 New Bond Street, London, offered by advance subscription several versions of a 'first class engraving', based on a drawing by the London portraitist, Lowes Cato Dickinson (1819-1908).
10. Christopher Rice Mansel Talbot (1803–1890), immensely wealthy landowner, mathematician & politician; WHFT’s Welsh cousin.