[this is written on the same sheet as a note from Lady Elisabeth - see Doc. No: 03645]
Laycock Abbey
Friday 5th March
Carissimo Enrico <1>
Lacock is beginning to look very pretty just as we are going to leave it. There are loads of snowdrops & crocus, hepatica & primroses coming up everywhere. The cyclamen in the window has flowered beautifully & also the Tulipa præcox. We have had beautiful weather lately & taken very nice rides everyday [sic] on Strawberry. Kerry <2> was very ill two or three days ago, but is better now – they expect Aunt Louisa at Bowood <3> to-morrow – & are to go Monday to Sidmouth. Mr Moore <4> arrived Wednesday – & is coming here to-day to dine & sleep – & I expect he will amuse us very much with all the London news.
I hear Charlotte <5> is to be married at Bath, I suppose as a compromise between Penrice <6> & London. If we had been at home at that time they could have come here for the fatal ceremony. Poor Uncle Harry & Kit <7> have had such dreadful colds they could not go out hunting once all this time. – I was glad to hear you plunged at once into the gaieties of London. have you sent out cards for the 18th? I suppose Aunt Harriet <8> is arrived in town – I am delighted with the thoughts of seeing them all so unexpectedly. I hope Louisa <9> will be well enough to come to the ball. – They seem to get on very quick with the pulling down – the roof is already nearly taken away & the sun streams in at the gallery window as formerly – before it was built up. –
Addio fratel caro t’abbraccio – au revoir Lundi <10>
ta sœur <11>
Horatie
I have sketched the two orchis pseudosambucina to please Uncle William. <12> That pretty Cynoglossum omphaloides is in flower. FitzSimmons <13> says you wish that other orchis (I believe speculum) to be taken to London – do you want it us to bring it in the pot or gathered or will you be contented with a drawing if it flowers before we go? Caroline <14> wants you to answer her question about the pannel [sic] of the secret staircase – as we do not go till Tuesday there will be time.
W. Henry Fox Talbot Esqre
31 Sackville Street
London
Notes:
1. Dearest Henry.
2. William Thomas Fitzmaurice, Earl of Kerry (1811–1836), MP.
3. 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. Bowood House, nr Calne, Wiltshire, 5 mi NE of Lacock: seat of the Marquess of Lansdowne.
4. Thomas Moore (1780–1852), Irish poet.
5. Charlotte Louisa 'Charry' Traherne, née Talbot (1800–1880), WHFT’s cousin.
6. Penrice Castle and Penrice House, Gower, Glamorgan, 10 mi SW of Swansea: home of Christopher Rice Mansel Talbot.
7. Henry Stephen Fox Strangways, 3rd Earl of Ilchester (1787–1858), and Christopher Rice Mansel Talbot (1803–1890), immensely wealthy landowner, mathematician & politician; WHFT’s Welsh cousin.
8. Lady Harriot Frampton, née Fox Strangways (1778 - 6 Aug 1844); dau of Henry Thomas Fox Strangways, 2nd Earl of Ilchester and Mary Theresa O'Grady; she married James Frampton (1769-1855) in 1799.
9. Louisa Charlotte Frampton.
10. She means ‘Goodbye dear brother I embrace you, till we meet on Monday’. [The text states that they wouldn’t be in London until Tuesday].
11. Your sister.
12. William Thomas Horner Fox Strangways, 4th Earl of Ilchester (1795–1865), botanist, art collector & diplomat.
13. Cornelius Fitzsimmons, Scottish gardener at Lacock Abbey.
14. Lady Caroline Augusta Edgcumbe, née Feilding (1808-1881); WHFT's half-sister; Lady of the Bedchamber to Queen Victoria, 1840–1854 & 1863–1865..