TALBOT1728

Moreton ¹
Tuesday 21^st October –

Carissimo Fratello ²

I received a letter ³ from you before I left Carclew, ⁴ which I was very thankful for as it was the only answer I have yet had to the many I have written. We left Carclew last week & went to Lord Falmouth’s ⁵ at Tregothnan for a day – it is a most beautiful place, almost surrounded by estuaries & creeks with woods down to the waters edge. We passed the whole day in riding, driving & rowing on the river which is quite shut in by the hills so that it looks like a Swiss lake. Lord Falmouth is very tiresome indeed, but good-natured & plays very well on the violoncello – Lady F. is very amiable & put me a good deal in mind of W^m Bankes. ⁶ There was nobody there but Sir R. Vyvyan ⁷ who invited us to visit him at Trelowarren the next time we go into Cornwall as his house is repairing. They say he is very clever – he seems to have very odd opinions on most subjects. I was quite dismal at leaving Sir Charles ⁸ – he was so very good & kind to us – we wanted very much to persuade him to come with us into Dorsetshire which he would have done had he not been expecting Aunt Mary ⁹ very soon at Carclew – I have still some faint hopes that she may put it off a little longer & then he will come to Melbury. ¹⁰ Our first day’s journey was through the most dreary country you can conceive, over Bodmin Moor which Mama ¹¹ says is like an Irish bog. We stopped only at Launceston to see the castle which was built by the Phenicians [sic] & unlike any one I ever saw. The next day we were proceeding quietly to Moreton, thinking we should arrive there just in time to go to bed & dreadfully tired, when on stopping to change horses at Longbeedy[?] Hut we received a note from Henry, ¹² to entreat us to stop at Dorchester & go to the Sessions Ball of which he was Steward – We were very much amused at this unexpected invitation, received at so odd a place & though we were so tired we could hardly get upstairs, we unpacked dressed & went to the ball at the King’s Arms & danced till 4 in the morning after having travelled from 7. I was delighted to see Aunt Harriet ¹³ & my cousins after such a long separation –

Melbury –
Wednesday 22^nd

We came here yesterday from Moreton – Here are Lord & Lady Belmore & all the Corrys. ¹⁴ I was rather glad to see them at last after having heard so much of them – Lord & L^y B. are waiting for a fair wind to go to Jamaica – is it not inconceivable that he should wish to s’expatrier, ¹⁵ at his age & with his bad health – particularly to such a place as Jamaica. I pity poor L^y B. very much – she dreads it extremely but yet appears in very good spirits. Colonel Strangways ¹⁶ is here too looking as well as ever. Melbury is in great beauty – I had not seen it with the trees leaves on the trees for many many years – I believe & it looks quite different. – We made a very nice expedition from Moreton to Lulworth Cove – I went on horseback with Louisa ¹⁷ & sundry gentlemen friends of Henry’s. we were in all 8 riders which was very amusing – We lunched on the beach in the Cove. It was a most beautiful day like October in Italy. Louisa has been very ill for some time but is much better now & is even allowed to dance. Poor Papa ¹⁸ has had a return of the pain in his foot – he thinks it is not gout but rheumatism. Our coughs are almost entirely gone – owing I suppose to riding¹⁹ & the air of Cornwall. – We are to go back from here to Mor[eton] about the 1^st of Nov^r I wish you could come there too – It would <be> so very pleasant, & my Aunt & Cousins would be so delighted. I believe Kit ²⁰ is coming there soon. Addio Enrico carissimo ²¹ – I send this to Brighton to wait for you –

Your very aff^te sister
Horatia.

Caroline ²² thanks you for your letter ²³ of the 3^rd. She has finished all the vignettes at last which I am very glad of.

Dorchester Oct^r twenty two 1828 Belmore
Henry Fox Talbot Esq^re
Post Office
Brighton