[The letter is in the BL and its envelope is in the NMeM.]
Boxwell Court <1>
April 30th
My dear Henry
I received your kind letter today & am very much obliged indeed to you for so readily accepting the Trust. As you are the nearest relation I have on my Mother’s Side I thought you would not refuse my request
My brother <2> being concerned in the payment of part of my Income I understand cannot be a trustee in the Settlement. We are to be married on the 14th or 15th Mr Thackeray <3> having purchased Belgrave Chapel<4> we shall necessarily reside mostly in London & I hope after our return in June I shall have the pleasure of seeing yourself & Ldy Elisabeth<5> We have not yet fixed on a residence in London but it must be Somewhere in the neighbourhood of Belgrave Sqr – We think of going to Clifton from here & I have so great a curiosity to see the old Abbey that if you will forgive me for going in your absence I think I must go over for a day to see it. I am the more tempted to do this as it may be very long before I see this part of the world again.
Believe dear Henry I am ever
yr affct cousin
M A Shakespear
Henry Fox Talbot Esqr
31 Sackville St
London
[envelope:]
Henry Fox Talbot Esq.
31 Sackville Street
Notes:
1. Wotton Under Edge, Gloucestershire, the home of her brother Arthur.
2. Arthur Shakespear (1789–1845).
3. Francis Thackeray (1793–1842), clergyman and author.
4. St Johns Church, popularly known as Belgrave Chapel, Halkin Street, London, in the midst of a very fashionable district. The Grecian style chapel was built in 1812 as a privately established chapel without a specific parish and could seat 800 people.
5. Lady Elisabeth Theresa Feilding, née Fox Strangways, first m Talbot (1773–1846), WHFT’s mother.