London

Dec^r 12^th

Dear Talbot

As I believe you are not a little interested in the the fate of Chippenham, ^<1> I must give myself the pleasure of telling you before the newspapers that Chippenham will have two members under a new arrangement of the boroughs supposed to be more <illeg>tionable by which the <order?> is established according to number of houses & amount of taxation combined –

My share at least in the change is disinterested – as by it Calne ^<2> <just?> drops into the top of Schedule B. ^<3> & Chippenham just gets above it – but I hope you will profit by it –

Yours <very?> truly

Lansdowne

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Notes:

1. Chippenham, Wiltshire: largest town near Lacock, 3 miles N.

2. Calne, Wiltshire, 5 mi NE of Lacock.

3. Schedule B list of boroughs had between 2000 and 4000 inhabitants and returned two members each.