TALBOT2047

Laycock Abbey
7^th Sep^r 1830

My Dear Henry

Our Meeting went off very well yesterday Mr Rogers ¹ made a speech & quant à moi mes dix guinées for Mr F. & me me tenoient lieu d'Eloquence. ² Many praises were bestowed on you for having erected the school house, before that it seems they were obliged to congregate in M^r Paley's ³ Laundry. afterwards M^r Awdry ⁴ called here with a letter, which he begged particularly might be forwarded to you by yesterday's post So I hope you found it on your arrival at Leamington. Probably there are many people at that Spa you are acquainted with, the difficulty is always to find them out, unless indeed one consults the subscription Books of the circulating Libraries.

It is always in your absence unluckily that curious discoveries are made in the Abbey, one secret passage I remember was found when you were at [Pistoia?] ⁵ &c &c and now in pulling down the wall over the Gallery they have exposed the windows of the Convent Church, a beautiful Gothic arch stands now in full view. It seems that one must come down, but two others remain which if you like it may always be seen, with out prejudice to the Building. Strong ⁶ came this Morning early & went away without seeing M^r F. who was up & waiting for him, & he was told so, this I call impertinent. I wish you had put the effective part of it into M^r F's hands, because you know he would have been just as eager to execute your plans as his own, Tho' your taste & his might differ on some points of detail, yet the activity with which he would have pursued Strong would have been the same. We were told long ago (by M^r Scrope ⁷) that his only fault was his excessive dilatoriness, he is a sort of Chancery suit. Mr F. says it is not too late now to bind him down as to time & he would do so this very day before he goes quite away, if you had given him authority. Having heard from M^rs Fowler ⁸ that Wilton ⁹ is not allowed to be seen, & the Pictures at Lay & Castle are taken down on account [of?] the Building, we have given [up?] Salisbury, but to comfort us the Framptons ¹⁰ have proposed coming here next Friday in their way to London, where they are going for the Trousseau. They will égayer ¹¹ us very much, & will delight in this place. The weather to day is lovely & makes it look so chearful If the slowness of the movements here were any œconomy to you, I should not say a word, but as they are not, I own I am anxious that the Gallery should be dried & habitable by next Summer that we may have people here in comfort, which it would not be in its damp state with plaistered walls, which we know by experience in these climates n'est pas l'affaire d'un moment. ¹² Your Sisters ¹³ will write soon if they can find a subject, But you have many.

Bankes has just been to say that there is not space for a chimney in that part nearest the Library where you intended it <there u>pon ¹⁴ Strong will write to you a[bout it]

W. H. Fox Talbot Esq^r
Post office
Leamington
Warwickshire