Letters from Rachel Walpole (née Cavendish) Countess of Orford to Dorothy Boyle (née Savile) Countess of Burlington

In these letters Lady Rachel writes to her brother's mother-in-law, Lady Burlington, concerning her father's poor health and wishing to see Lady Burlington when she is in town. She writes of her father's insistence in visiting Lady Burlington at Chiswick despite her mother's concern he is not able to go so far. She asks that if he does make it to Chiswick for dinner, his chicken be a newly-slaughtered and cooked one given his ill-health. She mentions that her father has been riding and that they have not received any letters from Ireland [where her brother Lord Hartington resides]. She also mentions her own ill-health and that her father's legs are to be punctured and that she believes the household hides the worst of her father's illness from her. She adds that her sister Caroline is still in Ireland and that she feels it unreasonable of Lord Bessborough to insist on her staying so long.