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Result number 110 of 971:   < Back     Back to results list   Next >  

Document number: 3543
Date: Fri 28 Jul 1837
Recipient: TALBOT William Henry Fox
Author: TALBOT Constance, née Mundy
Collection: British Library, London, Manuscripts - Fox Talbot Collection
Collection number historic: LA37-37
Last updated: 24th December 2010

Lacock Abbey
Friday 28 – July 1837

My dear Henry

I am very glad indeed that you had a prosperous journey, & that you reached London just before instead of just after they went to Richmond – How rejoiced I am that they have at length been able to move Mr Feilding! <1>– The change to pure air & perfect quietness must be most delightful to him, & I hope will contribute to hasten his recovery – Tell me what your own opinion of him is – & whether he now suffers much beyond the aches & pains & uncomfortable feelings attending upon his weak state. – I am very glad for your own sake, dear Henry, that they are gone to Richmond & that you will not have to endure the heat & oppression of London – which is always so bad for you – Still I am a little surprised that you should have found yesterday so intolerable – for here we had so strong a breeze that I was almost blown away, & was compelled to close the South window in the library in order to prevent confusion among the books & other articles on the table. – After you left me on Wednesday, I had an unexpected visit from Mrs Long. – She brought a very civil message for you from Mr Long <2> – hoping that you would excuse his not having called upon you & Mr Long added, that he knew you would do all that you could for him. We conversed upon the strange conduct of Mr Methuen <3> &c &c after which my visitor left me in haste (without Luncheon) for the purpose of calling upon Mrs Locke <4> – Of course I said all manner of civil things for you & assured her that you intended to return before the day of voting. – Report says, that all your tenants who had been persuaded to promise for Sir Francis <5> under the idea that of his being a Reformer, have retracted & intend voting for Mr Methuen & it says further, that Mr Long having made himself unpopular is likely to be the unsuccessful candidate – There is a printed letter from Devizes for you this morning – All I can learn by peeping in at the corner is that your attendance is particularly requested on some occasion – shall I enclose it to Mr Strangways <6> for you? – if so, tell me whether I must still direct 18 Clifford Street. –

Think of my having received some complimentary verses from Mr Bowles! <7> – evidently suggested by his visit to me during your last absence – They are so pretty & so very poetical that I long to show them to you – They were transmitted to me by Mr Moore <8> with a note from himself, in which he (Mr Moore) says, – “I wish Talbot would take the trouble of looking through the library for my “Memoirs of Wolfe Tone” <9> which it rather strikes me I lent to Mr Feilding some time since” – I have just glanced among the books but cannot see it – Can you direct me where to search? –

I suppose some notice ought to be taken to Mr Bowles of his Poem, but as the case is an unusual one, I know not how to act – do tell me, please – –

I have been interrupted by a visit from Mrs Paley <10> & have not time for more – They were afraid Mrs Feilding <11> was worse by your going to London again – Mr Paley votes for Sir Francis Burdett alone –

How very melancholy is the history of Mr Cocking! – to have devoted 25 years of his life in preparing such a fate for himself! –

Yr affecte
Constance

We are all quite well –

H.F. Talbot Esqre
the Marquis of Lansdowne’s <12>
Richmond
Surrey


Notes:

1. Rear Admiral Charles Feilding (1780–1837), Royal Navy; WHFT’s step-father.

2. Walter Long (1793–1867), MP; sat for Wiltshire North from 1835 until he retired in 1865.

3. Paul Methuen, Baron Methuen (1779–1849), MP.

4. Anna Maria Selina Locke, nιe Powell.

5. Sir Francis Burdett (1770–1844), radical MP. He was a defender of freedom of speech. He was imprisoned for alleged breach of Parliamentary privilege, having published a defence of an imprisoned radical orator. [See Doc. No: 00510].

6. William Thomas Horner Fox Strangways, 4th Earl of Ilchester (1795–1865), botanist, art collector & diplomat.

7. Rev William Lisle Bowles (1762–1850), Wiltshire poet & antiquary.

8. Thomas Moore (1780–1852), Irish poet.

9. Theobald Wolfe Tone, Memoirs of Theobald Wolfe Tone (London: Colburn, 1827).

10. Wife of Rev James Paley (1790–1863), Vicar at Lacock.

11. Lady Elisabeth Theresa Feilding, nιe Fox Strangways, first m Talbot (1773–1846), WHFT’s mother.

12. Henry Petty Fitzmaurice, 3rd Marquess of Lansdowne (1780–1863), MP, WHFT’s uncle.

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