TALBOT465

Bath
Dec^r 12^th

My dear M^r Talbot

At last we return you your Guercino with a great many thanks - you should have had it sooner had I known how to convey it to you safely for we have indeed kept it a most unreasonable time I thought of Harriet Mundy ¹ but then I scrupled incumbering her with so heavy a Book-² Our old friend Sadi Ombar Benbey³ health which I greive [sic] to say is much worse than when you last saw him & he I know I can depend upon & he has promised me to take it over himself to Lacock from the House of a friend of his in your neighbourhood I trust therefore it will reach you safely - We are in the midst of preparations for departure & I am therefore writing in a hurry but I must offer you our sincere congratulations & good wishes, & the assurance that we shall always feel much interested in your happiness-⁴ health which I greive [sic] to say is much worse than when you last saw him & he We have been here 2 months for M^r Seymers ⁵ health which I greive [sic] to say is much worse than when you last saw him & he returns to Hanford⁶much more helpless than when he left it - We all unite in kind regards.

Believe me Sincerely y^rs
Harriet Ker Seymer

[address panel:]
Henry Fox Talbot Esq^re
Lacock Abbey