Laycock Abbey
Tuesday Oct^r 4^th

My dear Henry

We are very much surprized at not hearing a word from you all this time – Mama ^<1> is almost beginning to be uneasy about you. Pray write directly or we shall be very seriously so. You cannot think how nice the gallery is we have got the piano there & a certain quantity of furniture & it is so gay & sunny it is quite a pleasure to sit in it. Lord Lansdowne ^<2> was here Saturday & admired it exceedingly. They are working at the stove in the dining room. The Gents are still here singing like nightingales. they are very nice girls when one knows them well & even the old lady is very odd & agreeable in her way. One night we acted charades & had great fun – we did Cléopatre with great success. Lord Valletort ^<3> was to come, but was prevented by a fit of the gout. Charlotte & M^rs Traherne ^<4> are coming too from Bowood, ^<5> but only for one night as she says she must go home tomorrow. Our Dahlias are still splendid – the other things are rather going off. – To day is the eventful day – what will happen I wonder – I never was the least uneasy about it before but now it is near I begin not to feel quite so sure. I suppose we shall not know till Thursday

Addio fratel carissimo ^<6> – pray let us hear from you as soon as you get this – we are not used to such silences from you – Maman & Caroline ^<7> t’embrassent. ^<8>

Your very aff^te sister
Horatia

The Queen ^<9> has given Theresa ^<10> a beautiful parure of Amethysts to reward her ser[vice]^<11>

Henry Fox Talbot Esq^r
Skipton
Yorksh
Post office ^<12>
Newark
Notts
31 Sackville St ^<13>
London

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Notes:

1. Lady Elisabeth Theresa Feilding, née Fox Strangways, first m Talbot (1773–1846), WHFT’s mother.

2. Henry Petty Fitzmaurice, 3^rd Marquess of Lansdowne (1780–1863), MP, WHFT’s uncle.

3. Ernest Augustus Edgcumbe, Lord Valletort, 3^rd Earl of Mt Edgcumbe (1797–1861), WHFT’s brother-in-law.

4. Charlotte Louisa 'Charry' Traherne, née Talbot (1800–1880), WHFT’s cousin, and her mother-in-law, the 2^nd wife of Rev John Montgomery Traherne, Barbara Maria, née Manning.

5. Bowood House, nr Calne, Wiltshire, 5 mi NE of Lacock: seat of the Marquess of Lansdowne.

6. Goodbye dearest brother.

7. Caroline Augusta Edgcumbe, née Feilding, Lady Mt Edgcumbe (1808–1881); WHFT’s half-sister.

8. Embrace you.

9. Queen Adelaide (1830–1837).

10. Theresa Anna Maria Digby, née Fox Strangways (1814–1874), WHFT’s cousin.

11. Text torn away under seal.

12. Readdressed in another hand.

13. Readdressed in another hand.