TALBOT2238

Laycock Abbey
5^th October 1831

My dear Henry

I am very grateful to you for having at last condescended to take notice of a letter I wrote you I don’t know how long ago. In your next I request you will give me an explanation of your mysterious conduct which was beginning to make us uneasy. The Gents ¹ are still here, singing delightfully every evening; Charry & M^r Traherne ² came yesterday from Cannes where they left my Aunt tolerably well; they were in their usual hurry to get home, & therefore left us again this morning, after having just given themselves time to look at the Cloister. – Skipton Castle ³ is a very curious building – if you go into the triangular court you will recognise my sketch. – Papa ⁴ begs if you have time, that you will try & find out some carpenter at Skipton who was ordered to make two chairs for him on the model of an old one at Askham Hall ⁵ near Lowther; he wishes to know if he ever received the order from M^r Jackson, the Clergyman at Askham, & if so whether he ever means to execute it.– We have charming weather, the finest September I ever saw in England; it has produced me a fine crop of Gran Tureo, which gives me pleasing recollections; the Amaryllis lutea? that you gave us is in flower & the double larkspur is going to blow for the second time. You cannot imagine how well the gallery looks, & almost too hot without a fire. I am sorry to tell you that the top part of the shaft of the dining room chimney is likely to fall in the first hurricane. M^r Strong ⁶ has examined it & thinks the cause of the decay is smoke, but we think it is the ivy which has forced the stones inwards & crumbled them away; it looks pericolosso, ⁷ but luckily nobody sleeps under it; & still more so it will be une affaire de rien ⁸ to build it again. Horatia ⁹ wrote you a letter yesterday directed to Markeaton, do not be so long again without writin[g] ¹⁰ It makes Mama ¹¹ uneasy, & you should consider that when she is nervous she is always ill – Addio caro fratellino ti abbraccio tenenemente ¹² –

tua sorella affezionatissima ¹³
Carolina

Henry Fox Talbot Esq^r
Post Office
[Newark?] Skipton
Nottinghamshire Yorkshire
31 Sackville Street
London