L. Abbey
Thursday 20th Sepr
My Dear Henry
I think Mcphail <1> cannot fail to be a good Gardener, by your description & I incline much to him, Mr F. <2> thinks his terms sound reasonable & it would answer better to you to have only to pay him board wages when we are from home & have him always live in the house. He hopes he has been used to taking care of plantations & the management of grass land, as this old Gardener always took care of the ground in hand for Mr Grossett. <3>
The Scropes <4> accepted out invitation with alacrity, but to day have sent an excuse owing to the death of a near relative, & I am quite as well pleased they should not come in your absence. We have nobody besides the Lansdownes <5> tomorrow except Mr Moore, <6> so I dare say we shall have a very pleasant snug dinner, & shall regret you the more. Mr Bramah <7> is here about the Pipes, he will be in town tomorrow Morning & expects you to talk to him on Saturday, he as well as Mr F. think it would be better to make a pump at the present well & increase the size of it instead of laying down new pipes the only doubt is whether it is soft water viz: whether it will do for Washing & Brewing. Then instead of spending 300 [sic] for the new Pipes you would receive a great deal for the old Lead. It is a little staggering only that our ancestors (particularly if done in time of the nuns) shd have taken all that trouble if they could have got good water nearer.
Mr F. most particularly begs you will talk to Harrison, <8> he will be in town tomorrow, & there are many things he wishes you to decide upon. Would it not be a good thing if you brought down a list of Mackay’s <9> plants & trees priced so that we could consider of it, & send for anything wanted at our leisure, & compare them with the prices at Calne? –
The old Gardener told Horatia <10> that the Simple Flora was a Latin name which meant that those roses had no smell. I hope London may have done you as much good as the Wrekin or Snowdon –
Affly Yrs
ETF
W. H. F. Talbot Esqr
31. Sackville Street
London
Notes:
1. John Mcphail, Lacock Abbey gardener. [See Doc. No: 01676, and Doc. No: 01698].
2. Rear Admiral Charles Feilding (1780–1837), Royal Navy; WHFT’s step-father.
3. John Rock Grosett (1783-1866), MP; Jamaican Parliament; occupant of Lacock Abbey until summer 1827.
4. George Julius Duncombe Poulett Scrope (1797–1876), geologist, magistrate & MP; and his wife, Emma Phipps, née Scrope. [See Doc. No: 01591].
5. Henry Petty Fitzmaurice, 3rd Marquess of Lansdowne (1780–1863), MP, WHFT’s uncle; and his wife, Louisa Emma Petty Fitzmaurice, née Fox Strangways, Marchioness of Lansdowne (1785 - 10 Apr 1851), Lady of the Bedchamber to Queen Victoria, 1837-1838, WHFT's aunt.
6. Thomas Moore (1780–1852), Irish poet.
7. See Doc. No: 03928.
8. Henry Harrison (1785?-1865), London architect who was being consulted about proposed changes to the South Front of Lacock Abbey. He was active the parish of St James’s, London, which included Sackville Street. Around 1830, he worked on WHFT’s uncle, Sir Charles Lemon's Carclew House, Cornwall.
9. See Doc. No: 00163.
10. Henrietta Horatia Maria Gaisford, née Feilding (1810–1851), WHFT’s half-sister.