He asks that he prepares some of the horses he purchased for sale.
He does not know whether he or his stud manager will arrive in Vienna first, so he asks him to write and let him know on which day he is going to Vienna.
Lieber Sahländer.[a]
Trachten Sie durch Wien so zu gehen, daß kein Mensch die Pferde sehe. In Zinkendorf sollen folgende Pferde auf der Stelle in die beste verkaufs Condition gesetzt werden.
Manchester. Schreckhorn. Gawdy. Partisan. Crispin. Dayton. Fritzwilliam. Dahlia. die Schimmel Stutte — Alle übrigen kann man, turn out —[b]
Die Mutter Stutten aufs Gras.
Ich weiß nicht ob Sie nicht früher als ich nach Wien kommen werden. Auf jeden Fall schreiben Sie mir aber nach Wien 518 Jägerzeile,[c] welchen Tag Sie einzutretten gedenken.[d]
Adieu
Széchenyi
[a] Thomas Sahländer (1788–1855), Széchenyi’s stable master. In 1821 he was contracted to István Széchenyi as a veterinarian and stable master in Nagycenk. They went to England together several times to buy horses. Later he was employed by Palatine József and then by Palatine István. He retired when the palatine institution was abolished in 1848.
[b] In the spring and summer of 1822, Széchenyi was in England, accompanied by Miklós Wesselényi and Thomas Sahländer, for the purpose of purchasing horses; he acquired the horses listed here at that time as well. (For the horses purchased, see note a) in the letter of 15 August 1822.)
[c] Széchenyi rented the apartment for five years in March 1821. (This was at the same time that Sahländer entered his service.) SzIN 2. 132.
[d] The letter is undated, but it was certainly written at the end of Széchenyi’s 1822 trip to England. In his letter of 15 August 1822, Széchenyi mentions that he would arrive in Vienna around September 10, and he did indeed arrive around midnight. SzIN 2. 306. It is therefore likely that it was written in early August 1822. Incidentally, Sahländer set out from Dover with the horses on July 27. SzIN 2. 297.
Recommended reference:
István Széchenyi to Thomas Sahländer, London, 1 August 1822. Edited and annotated by Szilvia Czinege. Published in Correspondence of István Széchenyi. Digital edition. Edited by Szilvia Czinege and Zoltán Fónagy. https://szechenyilevelezes.abtk.hu/ Abbreviation for further references: SzIL-Digit.