5 Glocester Row Clifton <1>
June 15th
My dear Henry
You are indulgence itself in so immediately acceding to my wishes about the North Gallery <2> – It is now in process of renovation – indeed the whole Abbey has long pined for such an opportunity as the present of undergoing a regular scrubbing. I am going to take a fourth week of Clifton air in consequence: for the operations cannot possibly be concluded before the end of next week – but on Monday the 26th positively we return. – We had very fine weather Sunday & Monday last – but now again Wednesday there is a sad deterioration. – What can have produced such an extraordinary season? The farmers about Lacock are very desponding – Mr Fry, <3> whose meadows have been abundantly watered by the Avon, affirms that he has lost the value of a hundred pounds by the spoiling of his mowing grass – Price <4> called at home on Tuesday in her way back from London <5> – She had no difficulty in meeting with a Cook – & today I have received a most excellent character from the lady whith with whom she lived last – I hope she is likely to be a comfortable servant. – Caroline <6> has engaged a maid & made up other deficiencies in her establishmt – Lady Elisabeth <7> has granted the humble suit of Mrs Roberts – & pardoned all past offences – so I hope all our families will continue in a settled state – Marian <8> writes to me – ‘ Harriot <9> tells me Ld Shelburne’s intended marriage <10> gives great pleasure’ – Were you aware of this? – I knew nothing – but felt very much rejoiced at her announcement, knowing how very desirable such an event had become. – There is so much bustle now in Sackville Street <11> that I don’t wonder they should omit to tell me of family events however interesting. – I saw by the Newspaper that Lady Theresa’s <12>baby died at Abbotsbury <13> a short time since – but I don’t know what was the cause – They will rejoice now that it was not the much-wished-for Boy. – Price gave me an excellent account of all in Sackville Street – She saw Lady Elisabeth several times but could not contrive to see Horatia. <14> – I suppose you will have made some Calotypes today Thursday if the weather brightened up at Paris as it did here about the middle of the day – It was really hot walking in the Zoological Gardens – I found I might walk there as often as I pleased with my whole family, by paying only 10/6 – is not that cheaper than amusements generally are? – The children <15> are very fond of going – and throw nuts to the Monkeys & bread to the aquatic birds – The Parrots we contrived to feed without risking our fingers by handing nuts to them on the Catalogue as we might have done on a tray. – They took the nuts in their beaks in a very well bred manner – not snatching & clawing as I had expected. – The improved weather today has put me quite in spirits on your account as well as our own – I think I am a little weather-wise & I really think the appearance of the sky this evening is encouraging – The wind too has changed to the East – which is a circumstance of great importance. All the children continue very well & very much pleased with their séjour at Clifton – Matilda has talked a great deal of your promise to write her a little letter – & is very much delighted about it – I do not write often dear Henry because I have really nothing to say – & all goes [illegible deletion] on perfectly well.
Your affectionate
Constance –
Monsieur Fox Talbot
Hôtel de Douvres
Rue de la Paix
Paris
Notes:
1. Bristol.
2. See Doc. No: 04827.
3. A tenant farmer on the Lacock Estate. [See Doc. No: 05370 and Doc. No: 06891].
4. Mrs Sarah Henneman, first m. Price ( ca.1811–1848), housemaid at Lacock Abbey.
5. See Doc. No: 04827.
6. Caroline Augusta Edgcumbe, née Feilding, Lady Mt Edgcumbe (1808–1881); WHFT’s half-sister.
7. Lady Elisabeth Theresa Feilding, née Fox Strangways, first m Talbot (1773–1846), WHFT’s mother.
8. Her sister, Marian Gilder, née Mundy (1806 – 14 October 1860); m. 6 August 1844 William Troward Gilder (d. 1871), Army Surgeon (ret).
9. Harriot Georgiana Mundy, née Frampton (1806-1886), WHFT’s cousin & sister-in-law.
10. Sir Henry Petty Fitzmaurice, Lord Shelburne, 4th Marquess of Lansdowne (1816–1866), MP and WHFT's cousin. He had married Lady Georgiana Herbert (1817-1841) on 18 August 1840, but she died on 28 February 1841. He married secondly, Hon Emily Jane Mercer-Elphinstone-de Flahault, Baroness Nairne (1819-1895), on 1 November 1843 at the British Embassy in Vienna.
11. 31 Sackville Street, London residence of the Feildings, often used as a London base by WHFT
12. Theresa Anna Maria Digby, née Fox Strangways (1814–1874), WHFT’s cousin.
13. Abbotsbury, Dorset: home of William Thomas Horner Fox Strangways.
14. Henrietta Horatia Maria Gaisford, née Feilding (1810–1851), WHFT’s half-sister.
15. Ela Theresa Talbot (1835–1893), WHFT’s 1st daughter, Rosamond Constance ‘Monie’ Talbot (1837–1906), artist & WHFT’s 2nd daughter, Matilda Caroline Gilchrist-Clark, ‘Tilly’, née Talbot (1839–1927), WHFT’s 3rd daughter and Charles Henry Talbot (1842–1916), antiquary & WHFT’s only son.