F. O. <1>
26 Jany 40 –
Dear Henry
What a wind! I hope it is not damaging Lacock.<2> Ask Horatia <3> what I am to do with a packet for Mlle Amelina <4> Popwood hall which Caroline <5> sent me the day after franking had ceased <6> & which I have kept ever since.
There was a good show at Hort Soc <7> today – beautiful orchidiæ – & heaths.
Have you done much in Photogeny this winter we had some bright days – I almost wish for snow, I think a clear day after snow, would produce you some pretty effects.
Baron Neumann <8> asked me for a specimen of your Art for Pce Metternich <9> who is very curious to know something of it – Could you send me anything worth presenting to the Austrian Machiavel as the papers call him – I have nothing left of the specimens you gave me but inferior ones.
I suppose Mary <10> is with you I want to know if Jane <11> comes to town now. I have a Cone for her from Armenia. <12>
I have received from Persia a fine Babylonian cylinder with cuneiform characters.<13>
Yr aff
W F S
Notes:
1. The Foreign Office.
2. In fact, it did. Lady Elisabeth Feilding was at Lacock at this time and recorded in her diary "22 Jan Storm - large Poplar blown down, & Elm."
3. Henrietta Horatia Maria Gaisford, née Feilding (1810–1851), WHFT’s half-sister.
4. Amélina Petit De Billier, ‘Mamie’, ‘Amandier’ (1798–1876), governess and later close friend of the Talbot family [See Amélina's journal].
5. Caroline Augusta Edgcumbe, née Feilding, Lady Mt Edgcumbe (1808–1881); WHFT’s half-sister.
6. The nationwide Penny Post [the uniform charge of one penny per half-ounce weight] came into effect on 10 January 1840. The sender paid the postage, whereas hitherto it had been levied on the receiver [see the postscript to this letter]. Franking was the procedure of dating and signing letter-covers by MPs and diplomats, authorising free postage. They were entitled to send up to ten letters or packages free each day, and this privilege was much used for the benefit of family and friends.
7. The Horticultural Society.
8. Philipp Freiherr von Neumann (Philipp Baron de Neumann) (b. 1781).
9. Prince Klemens Wenzel Lothar Metternich-Winneburg (1773–1859), chancellor of Austria 1821–1848.
10. Mary Thereza Talbot (1795–1861), WHFT’s cousin.
11. Jane Harriot Nicholl, née Talbot (1796–1874).
12. See Doc. No: 00154.
13. Probably through the diplomat Mr John McNeill, who is mentioned passim in the Correspondence. He was British Minister in Tehran 1836–1842.