TALBOT6569

Manrigy’s Hotel,
1 Regent S^t,
Saturday Feb^y 21^st 1852

My dear Henry

I wish you would make me a report of the general health at Laycock, I know it is very fatiguing both to Constance & to Amandier ¹ to write letters – but to you it is no trouble: & I am anxious to hear. I left Milord ² last Monday still so poorly that Flora ³ remained with him instead of coming to Town with me, as intended. He is now better, & will I suppose set off on Monday for Mount E. ⁴

Why do you not come up to Town while I am here, & during such an interesting crisis? It is too bad of L^d John’s ⁵ supporters to have thought more of their dinner than of the coming division. Numbers of them went away at that hungry moment – & Uncle W^{m 6} who dined at L^e House ⁷ gave me an amusing account of the comfortable quiet way in w^h Shelbourne & Jem Howard ⁸ eat their dinner, drank their tea & coffee, & then drove leisurely back to the House of Commons which to their surprise they found shut; they were informed by a stray policeman of the fate of the ministry & reported it to L^d Lansdowne ⁹ accordingly. – Some think L^d John seized the pretext for going out before the Caffre debate next Tuesday, In the mean time L^d Derby ¹⁰ is out of Town, & no one can guess what will happen next.

There was a Dinner party at the Palace last night – in the course of the ev^g a Ministerial box was brought in to the Q^{n 11} w^h no doubt contained the news – She was very Silent and abstracted afterw^ds I hope Amandier ¹² is pleased with Louis Napoleon’s ¹³ decree on the Press?

Y^rs aff^ly
Caroline