Thursday 11th July
I am so sorry you are to be bored on the Grand Jury, but hope it will not be so bad as the last time for certainly the weather cannot be called hot. I will go & look at that house for the Miss Mundy’s <1> <sic> the first moment I have any time. I hope to be down with you before the end of this Month I quite long to be at the dear old abbey again, which is to my mind a paradise in fine weather, or in any weather provided the leaves are on.
Have you ever told Constance of Mr Thorburn’s <2> offer of going down to Laycock abbey to give some touches to Ela’s picture? <3> It would be no expence & he would see her much better than he did before. He is full of genius & talent, & not satisfied like the generality with painting a picture & getting paid, he wants to be pleased himself with what he has produced, as well as to please others. I am quite vexed I forgot to speak to you when you were here about your broken Etruscan Vase. I consulted Mr Vivian <4> Mr Hope & Mr Bankes <5> & all the Virtuosi I knew about who was the best person to give it to, & after much consultation they agreed that Mortlock was the best & that he would mend it like old china. Shall I do so?
answer this
affly yrs
E F
Notes:
1. The sister of Constance Talbot, née Mundy (1811–1880), WHFT’s wife.
2. Talbot paid Thorburn on the 7th of August, 1840. [See Doc. No: 04122].
3. Probably Robert Thorburn (1818–1885), miniature painter. If so, then much more likely to be portrait of Ela Theresa Talbot (1835–1893), WHFT’s 1st daughter, not painting of the tomb of Ela Countess of Salisbury.
4. Sir Richard Hussey Vivian (1775–1842), politician.
5. William John Bankes (1786–1855), politician. He was pioneer of Egyptology and art collector.