Bowood
27th January
My Dear Henry
I could not help thinking yesterday Evening when I was listening to Mr Moore <1> singing that most touching melody the "Song of the olden time" how little we see of such a treasure of music & poetry & wit & conversation as he is. Posterity would think it quite incomprehensible that anybody could live in his immediate neighborhood [sic] & enjoy so little of its advantages. He is in great form at present, owing to a small windfall he has had, which proves what it was that weighed upon his mind. What a sad thing he should have such earthy cares at his age, but at least it shews that he was not really altered as people said (you know they were finding out that he was en décadence <2>) but it was entirely the res angusta domi <3> that weighed down his spirits. Only think of Mr Montgomerie <4> having given the Pencil of Nature <5> to the wrong brother! to be sure it was to the one who values the Art most & knows most about it but still it was so addle headed We are going back tomorrow - & the Trahernes <6> coming Wednesday from Abbotsbury <7>
Affly yours
E F
[envelope:]
H. Fox Talbot Er
31. Sackville Street
London
Notes:
1. Thomas Moore (1780-1852), Irish poet.
2. In decline.
3. Narrowed domestic circumstances.
4. Rev George Stephen Molyneux Montgomerie (1790-1850), close friend of Talbot family, artist, Rector of Garboldisham, near Thetford, Norfolk.
5. WHFT, The Pencil of Nature (London: Longman, Brown, Green, & Longmans, June 1844-April 1846 [issued in six fascicles]).
6. Rev John Montgomerie Traherne (1788-1860), JP, antiquary & author; and his wife, Charlotte Louisa 'Charry' Traherne, née Talbot (1800-1880), WHFT's cousin.
7. Abbotsbury, Dorset: home of William Thomas Horner Fox Strangways.