Laycock Abbey 10th March
My Dear Henry
We are so disappointed that you did not take the house in Old B. Street <1> - Horatia <2> could have walked many times a day to see Constance <3> when she cannot have the carriage, and I could have been often of use in taking Ela <4> out, while her mother is confined, - but Oxford Street is an Estuary that cuts off all communication. It will be impossible to paint the Drawing rooms while you are in the house, because the smell of Distemper painting (being made with col de poisson <5>) is something pestilential, & I should be sorry Ela was exposed to it, so you have only to let Mr Parker know the day you leave the house. would you dislike having those few oaks & horse Chesnuts left in Fussell's <6> field, provided you pay him nothing for it? They would have a very good effect in future. I can make Mr Awdry settle that. No man could have the face to ask to be paid for that much, besides I would not. It puts me in a nervous fever that you should talk of putting such absolutely worthless things in Inwood as Horse Chesnuts & American walnut! You must think of posterity & plant oaks. That wood is entirely for profit, & oaks seem to grow there extremely well luckily. I cannot help thinking that Mr Awdry by his annual cutting (of trees I mean, for copse wood must be cut of course) takes down Oaks too young, that would profit more, if left longer standing. Now an understanding Bailiff could regulate this. Blackham <7> discovered the other day, the rail road people with Carts helping themselves to Sand in an out of the way place on Nash hill, he warned them off, & told Mr A. last Monday of it, who I hear has put a price on it, but would never have known of it, if it had not been for Blackham, and after a time they would have claimed it as a right. among the old Letters are some about Nethermore <8> which the Court of Chancery wished to sell & could have done it with the Consent of old Mr Talbot <9> your Uncle I mean, but which he refused. This was valued & would have produced then £12,000 - which in the 5 pr Cents would have been a very good thing for you. This transaction was in the year 1808. There are likewise letters about Nethermore being tithe free, about the Vicarial tithes being claimed by Mr Paley <10> & after ward abandoned all which may be very useful at some future time, particularly with a Steward who knows little about these particulars, & who is always willing to concede. It seems the Manor was twice perambulated by order of the Court of Chancery during your minority - I am afraid it has not been done since. - It is extremely difficult to find a good place here to plant, nothing will grow under the shade of the large Trees. I will put the Acacias from Varese where you mention, but am afraid that lawn will acquire the appearance of that most ugly thing an Arboretum, because it is a kind of refuge for the destitute. I have turfed round the Siberian Crab tree, you cannot think how much better it looks. I happened to have some turf I wanted to get rid of (where the old pond is filling up, & which must be sowed with grass seed this spring) and so instead of sending Miles off to hunt in the high ways & ditches I took what I had, & finished it with a coup de main. <11> This is doing things with a unity of design. On Monday I am going to begin thinning Caroline copse &c &c & shall add on two men of my own to help, because it is a tough job & my time waxes short. O how happy should I be to stay the Spring here! parmi les travaux de la Campagne. <12> I examined those plantations the other day, there are many young trees that might be planted out if there was any place for them. I understand that Nethermore is quite full. The particular sort of trouble inspecting estates & tenanting, which you so much dislike is exactly what most amuses Kit <13> - de gustibus <14> &c I will look for the Euphrates seeds against the next time -.
The Ad. <15> is going next week for Horatia he has been more [illegible] since March set in like a lion than he has been all the winter. If he is not better, he must send Wright <16> to escort her. Laycock is to be gay to night, a Man has asked me to patronise an [illegible] & I only wish it was more common to try & enlighten the minds of the lower classes. The explanation he is to give of popular astronomy will do more to raise their religious ideas than all Mr Paley's unintelligible sermons. I am afraid that when you are in Harley Street we cannot enclose to William, <17> it is too long a way for him or you to send. We dined the other day at Lackham, <18> the company consisted of Ly Theodosia <19> & family two Mr Neelds, <20> the Starkeys <21> & some etceteras, altogether 18 - There being eight of themselves. They are now gone away to Bath for two Months while Lackham is painting.
I have now told you all the news of this arrondissement, in which the vegetable matter greatly exceeds the animal.
affly yrs
E F
Caroline <22> has written the most moving Letter to induce her padre <23> to go to Mt E <24> - he certainly will if he can. Her nursery of young trees ought to be got rid of out of the Kitchen garden.
Henry Fox Talbot Esqr
31. Sackville Street
Notes:
1. See Doc. No: 03468.
2. Henrietta Horatia Maria Gaisford, née Feilding (1810-1851), WHFT's half-sister.
3. Constance Talbot, née Mundy (1811-1880), WHFT's wife.
4. Ela Theresa Talbot (1835-1893), WHFT's 1st daughter.
5. Fish-neck.
6. Stephen Fussell. [See Doc. No: 02983].
7. James Blackham was listed in 1826 as being a tenant of Lacock.
8. Nethermore Farm and Wood, Lacock, Wiltshire.
9. John Talbot.
10. Rev James Paley (1790-1863), Vicar at Lacock.
11. Helping hand.
12. Among the labours of the Countryside.
13. Christopher Rice Mansel Talbot (1803-1890), immensely wealthy landowner, mathematician & politician; WHFT's Welsh cousin.
14. Abbreviation of: De gustibus non est disputandum (Latin: there is no accounting for taste).
15. Rear Admiral Charles Feilding (1780-1837), Royal Navy; WHFT's step-father.
16. James Wright, footman to the Talbots & Constable for Lacock.
17. William Thomas Horner Fox Strangways, 4th Earl of Ilchester (1795-1865), botanist, art collector & diplomat.
18. Lackham House, Wiltshire, 2 mi NW of Lacock: Awdry family home.
19. Theodosia Spring-Rice, née Pery, Lady Monteagle (1787-1839), wife of Thomas Spring-Rice.
20. One of them was probably Joseph Neeld (1789-1856), MP & botanist.
21. John Edward Andrew Starky (1799-1843), and his wife Charlotte, née Wyndham, of Spye Park, Bromham, Wiltshire.
22. Caroline Augusta Edgcumbe, née Feilding, Lady Mt Edgcumbe (1808-1881); WHFT's half-sister.
23. Father.
24. Mt Edgecumbe, near Plymouth: seat of the Earl of Mt Edgcumbe.