Lacock Abbey
Thursday
My dear Henry
We have been [expec]ting<1> you home from Oxford not knowing that you meant to return to London first – I did not fancy you would persevere in Calotyping as long as four days but I am extremely pleased that you did & that some of the views pleased you so much – Lady Elisabeth <2> & I are just come home from Bowood <3>where we dined & slept yesterday – Your absence was very much regretted – It was very pleasant & the real summer weather of today made the house & garden appear a perfect Paradise. – You will find London disagreeable in proportion & I hope you will really come down to us on Saturday & bring Horatia <4> – Lady Elisth opened your letter just as she was hurrying out to her Pond & bade me write to you – The children <5> are very well. I gave the 5 quires of paper to Porter <6> as you desired & one quire afterwards when he asked me for some – but perhaps I did wrong – Is there nothing more that he can do, because he is quite idle. –
I have not time to write more than this scrap – because it is dinner time –
yr affectionate
Constance
Henry Fox Talbot Esqre
31 Sackville Street <7>
London
Notes:
1. Text obscured under seal.
2. Lady Elisabeth Theresa Feilding, née Fox Strangways, first m Talbot (1773–1846), WHFT’s mother.
3. Bowood House, nr Calne, Wiltshire, 5 mi NE of Lacock: seat of the Marquess of Lansdowne.
4. Henrietta Horatia Maria Gaisford, née Feilding (1810–1851), WHFT’s half-sister.
5. 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.
6. Charles Porter (b. 1828), a servant at Lacock Abbey, was the frequent subject of photographs, and occasionally also photographic assistant. [See Doc. No: 04872].
7. 31 Sackville Street, London residence of the Feildings, often used as a London base by WHFT.