Lacock Abbey
Friday –
My dear Henry
I did not write to you at Leamington <1> (though I had a great mind to do so) merely because you gave me no direction & therefore I thought you did not wish it – Jones <2> brought me the books for which I am much obliged – & the music I wrote to Horatia <3> yesterday to get for me – and perhaps she may bring it with her tomorrow, when she intends coming here for a few days – She tells me that Mr Calvert Jones <4> is to be your travelling companion. I know he is a zealous admirer of your art & I hope he will be useful as an assistant – but how woefully dark the weather is for your operations! & I cannot perceive any promise of change. – the plants you sent down were planted out next day & all look well – for the absence of sun suited them well – & there was therefore no occasion to shade them*.
Three I put in front of the Greenhouse & the others in the different beds of your Botanic Garden where the gaps appeared biggest – I wrote to Hilperton a few days ago for the Geraniums but they are not come yet – I shall be so glad to have Horatia snugly for a wee bit. – & to shew her Malle D. <5> I continue to feel well satisfied with all I have seen – I think so far she likes Rosamond <6> the least of the three. <7> – but Rd has given way to several fits of humour which give a worse impression of her than she deserves – She has not been quite well, to which I attribute the mischance – but she & all the others <8> are pretty florishing now – better than they have been for a considerable time – Ela parait déjà cent fois plus aimable & ne se plaint presque pas de faiblesse ni de fatigue. <9>
I was at Sloperton <10> yesterday & saw Mr Moore <11> & his Sister – Mrs Moore <12> was too ill to see him me – & they seem quite depressed about her –
Your affectionate
Constance.
*We can only count 18 plants.
Notes:
1. See Doc. No: 05332 and Doc. No: 05333.
2. Jones, servant.
3. Henrietta Horatia Maria Gaisford, née Feilding (1810–1851), WHFT’s half-sister.
4. Rev Calvert Richard Jones (1802–1877), Welsh painter & photographer.
5. She was governess to WHFT’s daughters from July 1845 to March 1846.
6. Rosamond Constance ‘Monie’ Talbot (1837–1906), artist & WHFT’s 2nd daughter.
7. Rosamond and her sisters,Ela Theresa Talbot (1835–1893), WHFT’s 1st daughter and Matilda Caroline Gilchrist-Clark, ‘Tilly’, née Talbot (1839–1927), WHFT’s 3rd daughter.
8. The youngest child was Charles Henry Talbot (1842–1916), antiquary & WHFT’s only son.
9. Ela seems already a hundred times more agreeable and hardly complains at all of weakness or fatigue.
10. Sloperton Cottage, Wiltshire, 1 mi E of Lacock: home of Thomas Moore, the Irish poet.
11. Thomas Moore (1780–1852), Irish poet.
12. Elizabeth (Bessie) Moore, née Dyke (1783–1865), wife of the poet Thomas Moore.