TALBOT4389

Melbury ¹
Saturday

My Dear Henry

The penny ² was tied to a letter by a man who wanted to pay the additional penny for putting it in after Post time & it could hardly legally be called taking money out of a Letter. The Paulet Mildmays ³ are here & have been talking over old times at Nice, now eighteen long years ago, & the accurate judgement Lord Dudley ⁴ formed of you, tho’ you were then a person not easily deterré. ⁵ She likewise remarked that you are the only person he named in the Society at Nice^<6> – tho’ there were many there he seemed at the time to like & who have expressed themselves mortified at this omission. I found them looking at some photographs some old ones much faded so I produced mine, & they were in excessive admiration of them it is a pity you had not given me many more. I should like to have made them a present of some, they seemed so worthy of it, but I could not spare them till you have made more I made a point of doing as Horatia ⁶ desired & contemplating Stanfield’s ⁷ pictures by daylight notwithstanding I saw them every day at Dinner beautifully lit up. all the family are dreadfully uncommunicative Horatia to this day does not know of the Bonneval marriage & thinks to meet them at Naples. Lady Ilchester ⁸ is not here, nor very well. The two Marys ⁹ are with her at Abbotsbury ¹⁰ & John. I wish you would write to Padua for I have a good deal left off writing to there, not being in the humour

Aff^ly y^rs
EF