TALBOT2023

Tuesday 13 July

My Dear Henry

You have not said in either of your letters whether you are going on to Margam, ¹ so I suppose I may still direct as usual. I have been doing Kit ² all the good I could, by canvassing Lady Clarendon & Lady Jersey, ³ who both say their Lords will certainly not oppose him. The account you give of your present occupations is very interesting & something like a novel. There is food for many a solitary day among the wormeaten M.S.S. of Laycock Abbey, & what you discovered of the birth of Tho^s Mansel Talbot ⁴ proves he was just the age of my Father which his friends always denied. Pray explain to me why the present plan for the Gallery should be more expensive than the others, it must be because of the elaborate & perhaps too florid ornaments of the windows, which are surely unnecessary. If it is about to be begun really I shall be impatient to get down there. I have asked several & shall more [sic] of those you mention & am going to order some things absolutely necessary for the bedrooms to make them comfortable We were at a Dance last night at Lady Caroline Burham’s[?], & there are small parties some where every night. We are going on a Water Party Friday with Lady Mansfield, ⁵ but I know of nothing beyond the Duchess of Bedford’s ⁶ Ball on the 20^th I have just heard that your friend M^r Estcourt is to marry an heiress only 18 with or will have seven thousand a year, the daughter of Admiral something.⁷ The night you went I met them at Lady Grey’s, ⁸ all three were rather gênés ⁹ in their manner to me, I made a point of being just as if I knew nothing. I have met them twice since.

Lord Jersey ¹⁰ is made Lord Chamber[lain]¹¹ which causes a great sensation in the beau Monde. ¹² Tomorrow I shall send a parcel full of letters & notes as M^r F. ¹³ says that is the most œconomical way, franks being scarce – They mostly are bills & printed letters, or perhaps they are not worth sending. John ¹⁴ is in town & in much better spirits. Queste ferite d’amore per essere profonde non sono mortali, altramente [sic] moremmo tutti in gioventù. ¹⁵

Adio caro mio ¹⁶

We are going to night to drink tea at Lansdowne House, ¹⁷ afterwards to Lady Radnor’s, ¹⁸ & then to a Party at Lady Cowper’s ¹⁹ so we go on –

William Henry Fox Talbot Esq^r
Laycock abbey
Chippenham
Wilts
Post office ²⁰
Chepstow
Monmouthshire