TALBOT4974

Caroline ¹ flatters herself you will be lost in admiration when you see her new Garden of which you gave her a lease at a pepper corn rent. When you went away it was scarcely defriché, ² & was still in the hands of the Backwoodsman,* but now thanks to the savoir faire of il vecchio Onofrio ³ it has assumed a form likely to eclipse all the flower gardens on the premises.

M^r Strong ⁴ has relapsed into his wonted tiresomeness, not sending the stone the day he engaged to do so, consequently masons waiting for work [illegible] I gave him no hopes that I was going away, I knew that would make him too happy. He could not conceal his chagrin when he heard you were coming next Monday

* M^r Montgomerie ⁵ who first laid it out on the Shelf as well as Griselda. M^r F. ⁶ says everybody is unlucky in horseflesh - To day it snows

Y^rs aff^ly
E F

Henry Talbot Esq^re
31. Sackville Street