Markeaton <1>
Thursday
My dear Henry
Will you tell dear Constance <2> that the present is safely come to hand for which many thanks. I shd have written to her to say so, but that I wish to ask whether you can tell me [ilegible deletion] the Arms of Ivory?<3> I suppose you have got them somewhere & if so no doubt wd communicate them to me – Perhaps I ought to spell it Ivery but as I do not know I cannot help it if I am wrong. –
What do you hear of the Palermitans <4> or at least of kinsfolk at Palermo? They will enjoy seeing Lord Minto <5> – I cannot connive a more enviable trip than that of the said Lord M. going in the most luxurious way at his own time just to all the charming places & staying as long as likes & no longer – for of course his Son in Law would not be so undutiful as to hurry or find fault with anything he did –
I am quite troubled about Constance & had no idea she had been so ill – & the children <6> too – it is very sad. I hope they will go somewhere for change when they get better to set themselves up –
I am always afraid of C. over exciting herself on account of the rest, but now you are at home you will take care of her I am sure –
We want ie my Father as well as myself, to know when your Pencil of Nature <7> is to be finished & hope it will occur shortly. – Did you have a copy of my Uncle Wollaston’s Translation of Persius? <8> I could not tell my Father as I was not sure – It is reckoned very well done but was only printed for private circulation. I am so disappointed at Uncle Wm <9> being sent back to Ffort <10> without having time to come here first
Yr Affte Sister
HGa Mundy
[envelope:]
H. Fox Talbot, Esqre
Lacock Abbey
Chippenham
Notes:
1. Markeaton Hall, Derbyshire, NW of Derby: home of the Mundy family.
2. Constance Talbot, née Mundy (1811–1880), WHFT’s wife.
3. Anne Talbot married Sir John Ivory of New Ross, County Wexfordl he was WHFT's great-great-grandfather.
4. She refers to the Sicilian revolution that started in January 1848, at Palermo, Sicily, against the absolutist King Ferdinand II. [See Doc. No: 06101, Doc. No: 06117, and Doc. No: 06135].
5. Elliot Murray, 2nd Earl of Minto (1782–1859), statesman. He was the British representative who tried to encourage reform in Italy, but his efforts failed.
6. Ela Theresa Talbot (1835–1893), WHFT’s 1st daughter, Rosamond Constance ‘Monie’ Talbot (1837–1906), artist & WHFT’s 2nd daughter, Matilda Caroline Gilchrist-Clark, ‘Tilly’, née Talbot (1839–1927), WHFT’s 3rd daughter and Charles Henry Talbot (1842–1916), antiquary & WHFT’s only son.
7. WHFT, The Pencil of Nature (London: Longman, Brown, Green, & Longmans, June 1844–April 1846 [issued in six fascicles]).
8. Charlton Byam Wollaston, The Satires of Persius (London: printed by C. Reynell, 1841).
9. William Thomas Horner Fox Strangways, 4th Earl of Ilchester (1795–1865), botanist, art collector & diplomat.
10. Frankfurt am Main; WTHFS was Minister Plenipotentiary to the German Confederation at Frankfurt and would have to deal with the 1848 revolution and the 1848 German National Assembly at Frankfurt.