TALBOT478

L. abbey
22 Dec^r

My dear Henry

I have just received yours ¹ & am glad to find you are again within reach I lose no time in answering your question tho’ I have little hope it will be in time to hasten your journey. The Bowood ² Ball is en équilibre ³ between the 30^th & 2^d January, just for you exactly to miss it, as you say you shall be here the 4^th. The Chippenham ⁴ Ball is the 27^th where you really ought to be. I am going to do duty for you, & to bore my self for your sake. The Quarter Sessions will likewise be just over which is unlucky as they were this time at such a convenient distance (Devizes) & next time they will probably be at the other end of the county, & you must attend coûte qui coûte ⁵ wherever they are. Kerry ⁶ sets you a bright example, ever since he returned from visiting his [Love?] in Ireland (where he went soon after he came from Norway) he has been attending to County business, & trying de se populariser, ⁷ which is the only way in these times. You see the moment you set your foot in cette vieille angleterre, ⁸ you are assaild [sic] by every sort of tiresomeness. this is the Land of Cares & Duties, for which you leave the climate of Italy & the gaiety of Paris! These are meritorious sacrifices for an Englishman but not pleasant ones. Your Letter was very amusing, write me another. I am very sorry you will have only one Month here, and that the most ungrateful one of the year – January. We mean to be in town ourselves the beginning of February as M^r F. ⁹ wrote you in a letter some time ago at Nice. The rest of our plans are dans la vague, ¹⁰ but Horatia’s ¹¹ perpetual colds make me wish to take her out of England before the next Autumn. I met Macaulay ¹² at Bowood he was very agreeable & spoke of you at Cambridge in the highest terms

we go to town early intending to let the house after Easter

M.
Mons^r Fox Talbot

Paris
Charles Feilding