[this is written on the same sheet as a note from Lady Elisabeth: Doc. No: 02287]
Laycock Abbey
Mercredi 10 Décembre
Carissimo Fratello <1>
Je t’écris quoique je n’aye pas eu l’honneur de recevoir de toi jusqu’à présent un seul petit mot – mais je ne m’en plains pas –car pourvu-que tu t’amuses bien je suis toujours contente. – Tu as dû trouver à Brighton beaucoup de monde de connaissance, car dans les fashionable departures on ne voit que gens qui y vont. Je suis bien aise d’apprendre que tu vas au bal des Espagnols, où je me flatte que tu valseras. – Papa <2> nous a quittés Jeudi avec Kit <3> – ils ont été ensemble à Londres – Papa devait aller aujourd’hui à Middleton et de là à Burley <4> – nous espérons qu’il sera de retour ici avant Noël. – Nous avons été surpris Samedi par l’arrivée inattendue de Mr G. Dawson, <5> qui venait de Milton Abbey, où il s’était rendu pour assister aux funérailles de Lady Caroline Damer <6>. Il est resté ici deux jours, et fut fort gai et fort aimable comme de coutume. Mr Moore <7> est revenu de Londres et est venu aussi pour un jour – il est extrêmement occupé à sa vie <8> de Lord Byron <9> qui devrait être déjà finie mais ne l’est pas. Il nous a montré l’Héro et Léandre gravé mais pas finie. – Ta Madonna in adorazione est arrivée et placée au salon, qu’elle embellit considérablement – je ne peux me lasser de la regarder. – J’espère que tu viendras tout de bon Lundi et que tu feras un séjour plus long que les derniers – je suis bien contente que Giovanni <10> viendra avec toi. – Betty Vickery <11> est venue ici hier. elle a l’air très florissant. Addio Enrico carissimo <12> la poste va partir et Maman <13> attend pour t’écrire un postscriptum – ainsi au revoir Lundi –
ta sœur
Horatie
Translation:
Laycock Abbey
Wednesday 10 December
Carissimo Fratello
I am writing to you even though to date I have not been honoured with a single short note from you – but I am not complaining – for as along as you are enjoying yourself I am always happy. – You surely found many well known people in Brighton, for in the fashionable departures one only sees people going there. I am most delighted to learn that you are going to the Spanish ball, where I fancy that you will waltz. – Papa left us on Thursday with Kit – They were together in London – Papa was to go to Middleton today and from there to Burley – we hope that he will make it back here before Christmas. – We were surprised on Saturday by the unexpected arrival of Mr G. Dawson, who came from Milton Abbey, where he had gone to attend the funeral of Lady Caroline Damer. He stayed here for two days, and was most gay and friendly as usual. Mr Moore has come back from London and he too came by for a day – he is extremely occupied by his life of Lord Byron which should have already been finished, but is not yet. He showed us the Hero and Leandre sketched but not finished. –Your Madonna in adorazione has arrived and been put up in the drawing room, to which she brings considerable beauty. – I never tire of looking at her. –I hope you will come here once and for all on Monday and that you will stay longer than on previous occasions – I really am happy that Giovanni will come with you – Betty Vickery came here yesterday. she seems to be positively. Addio Enrico carissimo the mail is about to leave and Mama is waiting to write you a postscriptum– and so until Monday –
your sister
Horatie
Notes:
1. Dearest Brother.
2. Rear Admiral Charles Feilding (1780–1837), Royal Navy; WHFT’s step-father.
3. Christopher Rice Mansel Talbot (1803–1890), immensely wealthy landowner, mathematician & politician; WHFT’s Welsh cousin.
4. Burley, Stamford.
5. George Dawson. [See Doc. No: 01749].
6. Lady Caroline Damer, of Milton Abbey (1752–1828). Distant relative of George Dawson.
7. Thomas Moore (1780–1852), Irish poet.
8. Moore’s Life of Byron (published in 1830).
9. George Gordon Byron (1788–1824), poet.
10. Giovanni Percij.
11. Elizabeth Vickery ‘Betty’, WHFT’s governess, who died in 1835. WHFT paid to have a gravestone placed at Cutcombe, Somerset, inscribed: 'Erected to the Memory of Elizbth Vickery his kind & faithful nurse by Henry Fox Talbot of Lacock Abbey in the country of Wilts Esqre'; the stone's inscription is still readable - See Doc. No: 03205.
12. Farewell Henry dearest.
13. Lady Elisabeth Theresa Feilding, née Fox Strangways, first m Talbot (1773–1846), WHFT’s mother.