Laycock Abbey
8th March
My Dear Henry
We are delighted at the thoughts of your having a house in Old B. Street, it will be so snug! Do pray take it; and as you will of course dine with us every day while Constance <1> is confined, it will be particularly convenient for you. The Ad. <2> suggests that if it will lessen the squeeziness of that house, he invites you to sleep in Sackville Street <3> during the confinement, an occasion on which le mari est très deplacé <4>. This must make the difference of a room.
But as Procrastination is your motto I am afraid somebody will step in & take the house while you are deliberating. As Ladys [sic] are frequently mistaken in their calculations I live in expectation of hearing that Constance is confined before the time she expects & therefore when you have decided she had better remove into it, for fear of accidents. For my own part I should be very happy here all the Spring, but on Horatia’s <5> account I should regret it much, for going very late is tantamount to not going to town at all. And you know it will take at least three weeks to paint all the Drawing rooms & clean the house for our reception. Let me know as soon as you know yourself, because time flies.
The Ad. wants to write to Mr Parker about beginning immediately to paint. He advises if you are obliged to take the House for a longer term than you want, to take care & have a power of underletting inserted in the agreement
affly yrs
E F
Henry Fox Talbot Esqr
31. Sackville Street
London
Notes:
1. Constance Talbot, née Mundy (1811–1880), WHFT’s wife.
2. Rear Admiral Charles Feilding (1780–1837), Royal Navy; WHFT’s step-father.
3. 31 Sackville Street, London residence of the Feildings, often used as a London base by WHFT.
4. The husband is entirely out of place.
5. Henrietta Horatia Maria Gaisford, née Feilding (1810–1851), WHFT’s half-sister.