Sunday 16 Jany 1
My Dear Henry
Have you been to look at Laycock Abbey & to plant some more opposite the house, if ever you are to live there I wish this had been done long ago, & that I had not been thwarted <sic> in my good intentions on this subject by the froid calcul 2 of a Master in Chancery, for with trees to gain time is everything & one cannot be happy you know with a turnpike road in view. But then you must marry a moderate heiress, for sine pennis volare haud facile est 3, & of all houses that requires the most fire to warm it & the most lamps to light it in proportion to its size e il denaro fa tutto 4.
Your narcissus from “the Lord knows where” is in full bloom <illegible> 5 now perfuming the air of this ro<om>
W. Henry Fox Talbot Esqr
Bowood
Calne
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