London
July 12th 1830
Enrico carissimo <1>
Our party succeeded beyond our expectations - & as the Morng Post would say, closed the entertainments of the Season with éclat. <2> It was quite a party after Aunt Harriet's <3> own heart - about 12 or 15 ladies & heaps of men - Miss Elphinstone was in high good humour & sung [sic] till 2 o'clock. Mr Moore, Lord de Tabley, Lord Charlemont & Capt. Edwardes <4> dined, & were very agreeable. The Duchessina had a musical party to which she asked us, but it was too late after our people were gone. Lady Grey <5> was to have had a soirée but put it off for fear of being crushed by ours. Friday we went to Mrs Cunliffe's & Lady Grey's. <6> Saturday we spent at Richmond - we went with Aunt Louisa <7> to see Ham House,<8> which Lady Dysart <9> had deputed Miss Tollemache to shew us. She was extremely civil I suppose out of gratitude for the ball, & I was delighted with the old house & pictures.
Mama <10> has sent you to day's Morning post, as the Times <11> is not to be found high nor low She says she will write to you to-morrow. Caroline t'embrasse et moi aussi - j'éspère que tu ne t'ennuies pas tout seul - Addio <12>
Your affte sister
Horatia
There is a ball! to night at Lady C. Barham's <13> a concert at Mrs Bradshaw's- href="#tan02019"><14> & a soirée at Lady Tankerville's! <15>
W. H. Fox Talbot Esqre
Laycock Abbey
Chippenham
Notes:
1. Dearest Henry.
2. Style, a bit of a stir.
3. 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.
4. Thomas Moore (1780-1852), Irish poet; George Fleming Leicester (later Warren), 2nd Baron De Tabley; Francis William Caulfield, 2nd Earl of Charlemont (1775-1863); and possibly the Honble Richard Edwardes [see Doc. No: 02405].
5. Mary Elizabeth Ponsonby, Lady Grey (1776-1861).
6. Probably Elizabeth Emma Cunliffe-Offley, née Crewe (d. 1850).
7. 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.
8. On the Thames, near Richmond, Surrey.
9. Louisa Tollemache, Countess Dysart (1745-1840).
10. Lady Elisabeth Theresa Feilding, née Fox Strangways, first m Talbot (1773-1846), WHFT's mother.
11. The Times (London).
12. Caroline embraces you and so do I - I hope that you are not bored all on your own.
13. Lady Caroline Barham (d. 1832).
14. James Bradshaw (d. 1847), tea merchant and MP, and his wife, Anne Marie, née Tree (1801-1862), an accomplished singer and actress in Bath and London.
15. Possibly Lady Emma Tankerville. [See Doc. No: 01403].