Markeaton <1>
Sunday Sept 15th
My dear Henry
I am very glad to know where you really are, that I may not direct au hasard – You will be glad to hear that Charles’s <2> cough is better rather – and that he is quite merry & not at all ill in other respects – The cough is worst at night – and as I sleep in an adjoining room I judge for myself how he goes on – Harriot <3> would not hear of my going away again as I had pressed her to let me do, if she had any fears for Noel <4>– for that I would not be held responsible in case of its proving Hooping Cough in the end – which it still may do – Dr Baker has seen our darling today (whom he admires extremely) & says he cannot do more properly in any case than continue the powders which he prescribed at first. – And I am to let him know in a few days if there is any change & I wish to see him again – So I am to remain here quietly for a short time at any rate – and I will write to you again soon. – My feeling still is that it will be the Hooping cough – because he never had a cough before the least like it – but Dr Baker says such coughs are very general at present in this neighbourhood. – Your daughters <5> are perfectly well – & send their love to dear Papa – Are you really going to Belgium? – I suppose you will at any rate wait for finer weather. –
Mr Frampton <6> has succeeded in finding the Motto <7> – with the help of your information this morning –
My Brother’s mind is greatly relieved by the report of his Solicitor’s conference with Mr Gilder’s – My Sister’s fortune will be settled on herself <8> – & Mr Simpson is now drawing up the legal document. – It seems that her trustees had a right to see this properly settled before giving up the fortune. –
I shall not go up to see her of course till Charles’s cough is better. –
Your affectionate
Constance –
Notes:
1. Markeaton Hall, Derbyshire, NW of Derby: home of the Mundy family.
2. Charles Henry Talbot (1842–1916), antiquary & WHFT’s only son.
3. Harriot Georgiana Mundy, née Frampton (1806-1886), WHFT’s cousin & sister-in-law.
4. Francis Noel Mundy (1833–1903), WHFT’s nephew.
5. Ela Theresa Talbot (1835–1893), WHFT’s 1st daughter, Rosamond Constance ‘Monie’ Talbot (1837–1906), artist & WHFT’s 2nd daughter and Matilda Caroline Gilchrist-Clark, ‘Tilly’, née Talbot (1839–1927), WHFT’s 3rd daughter.
6. James Frampton (1769–1855), High Sheriff.
7. WHFT's motto for the title page of The Pencil of Nature (London: Longman, Brown, Green, & Longmans, June 1844–April 1846 [issued in six fascicles]). See Doc. No: 05062. It was from Virgil: 'Juvat ire jugis qua nulla priorum / Caastaliam molli devertitur orbita clivo.' For a detailed study of this, see Graham Smith, 'Talbot's Epigraph in The Pencil of Nature, History of Photography, v. 34 no. 1, 2010, pp. 90-95.
8. Her sister, Marian Gilder, née Mundy (1806 – 14 October 1860), who surprised the family by marrying on 6 August 1844 William Troward Gilder (d. 1871), Army Surgeon (ret).