[The envelope for this letter is in a private collection:]
Henry Fox Talbot Er.
Laycock Abbey
Chippenham
Wilts
_________________
Melbury <1>
31st Decr
My Dear Henry
What you say of J. H. <2> reminds me of what Dr Johnson <3> said on another occasion, “Diligence produces success, success begets Indifference and Negligence ruins that reputation which accuracy had raised” – If the Abbey feels cold it is the fault of the inhabitants because I know by experience it can be made warm in much worse weather than this. I have not stirred out of the house since I was at Church last Sunday, it has been always dark & foggy since the bright day you went away. They write from London that they are using Candles at Noon, as usual at this Season. When you read Horatia’s <4> letter you will see I have some cause to be uneasy for Annie’s fever seems to be of the same sort as Noel’s <5> and Harriot’s <6> – as if Florence was inimical to the English this year.
Shew the letter to Constance <7>
Affly yrs
E F
If the robbers are known why does are they not taken up? I hope our Police is not inefficient. It makes me long to be at home to help to defend the Abbey – was it true about the 4 Men?
Notes:
1. Melbury, Dorset: one of the Fox Strangways family homes; WHFT was born there.
2. John Humphries, gardener at Lacock Abbey in the early 1840’s.
3. Samuel Johnson (1709–1774), writer.
4. Henrietta Horatia Maria Gaisford, née Feilding (1810–1851), WHFT’s half-sister.
5. Francis Noel Mundy (1833–1903), WHFT’s nephew.
6. Harriot Georgiana Mundy, née Frampton (1806-1886), WHFT’s cousin & sister-in-law.
7. Constance Talbot, née Mundy (1811–1880), WHFT’s wife.