Lacock Abbey
October 4th Friday –
My dear Henry
I am so glad to receive your letter from York <1> – I had pined to know where you were & how you were prospering – I wish I could recollect whether I wrote more than twice to York – but I dare say I didn’t – because with the one to Oxford, they made 3 letters in a very short time – The last was written on Saturday the 28th <2> which I hope you received, as it contained one from Lady Elisabeth <3> mentioning her plan of going to Carclew <4> on the Wednesday 1st October. I have heard once since – a good account & the day for Carclew remained unchanged – I shall write immediately to say that you have been heard of, for they are always asking & wondering – but I dare say before now you have written yourself. We are going on perfectly well – your son <5> decidedly improving – your daughters <6> coughing more in fits – but getting out & playing with their usual vivacity – and not yet incapacitated for their various occupations – I am sorry to tell you that Noel Mundy <7> has also got this cough – I lamented it to Mr Kenrick <8> – but he says that being ten years old it will perhaps be better that he he should have it now – he will have it probably more favorably – I had a very kind letter yesterday from Harriot <9> – half lamenting that I had left Markeaton <10> at all, since it had failed as a precautionary measure. <11> We had a frost last Sunday Night which destroyed the Dahlias & Heliotropes & blackened the potatoes – At Sloperton <12> where I drove today without finding Mrs Moore <13> at home, the Dahlias are untouched – but her garden is going off of course – Mr Moore seemed very well & enquired much after you & all our party – I hear that the Lansdownes <14> are expected at Bowood <15> in a few days –
You will feel less bustled in the wilds of Scotland than you did at York – & therefore you will be able to write a line now & then – Indeed if you don’t you will compel me to keep silence also – for I imagine I ought only to write once to each place – unless I have occasion to write 2 days following which is unlikely. And your children are so well with their coughs that you need not feel at all anxious about them – and I too am quite well –
Your affectionate
Constance
[envelope:]
H. F. Talbot Esqre
Post Office
Jedburgh
Scotland
Notes:
1. Not located.
3. Lady Elisabeth Theresa Feilding, née Fox Strangways, first m Talbot (1773–1846), WHFT’s mother.
4. Carclew, Cornwall, 3 mi N of Penryn: seat of Sir Charles Lemon
5. Charles Henry Talbot (1842–1916), antiquary & WHFT’s only son.
6. Ela Theresa Talbot (25 Apr 1835 - 25 Apr 1893), WHFT's 1st daughter; Rosamond Constance Talbot (16 Mar 1837 - 7 May 1906), 'Rose'; 'Monie'; artist & WHFT's 2nd daughter; died & buried at San Remo, Italy, with a memorial at Lacock; Matilda Caroline Gilchrist-Clark, née Talbot (25 Feb 1839-1927), 'Tilly', WHFT's 3rd daughter.
7. Francis Noel Mundy (1833–1903), WHFT’s nephew.
8. Dr George Cranmer Kenrick, surgeon living at The Grove, Melksham.
9. Harriot Georgiana Mundy, née Frampton (1806-1886), WHFT’s cousin & sister-in-law.
10. Markeaton Hall, Derbyshire, NW of Derby: home of the Mundy family
11. The family had returned home to Lacock as soon as Charles had been diagnosed as having whooping cough in the hope that Noel wouldn't contract it. See Doc. No: 05073.
12. Sloperton Cottage, Wiltshire, 1 mi E of Lacock: home of Thomas Moore, the Irish poet
13. His wife, Elizabeth (Bessie) Moore, née Dyke (1783–1865).
14. Henry Petty Fitzmaurice, 3rd Marquess of Lansdowne (1780–1863), MP, WHFT’s uncle; and his wife, Louisa Emma Petty Fitzmaurice, née Fox Strangways, Marchioness of Lansdowne (1785-1851), Lady of the Bedchamber to Queen Victoria, 1837-1838, WHFT's aunt; and family.
15. Bowood House, nr Calne, Wiltshire, 5 mi NE of Lacock: seat of the Marquess of Lansdowne