Bath

Friday Dec. 26 1873

My dear Constance

The dressing of our turkey was very successful, and Ela ^<1> bestowed great commendations on the kitchen maid.

Wick farm ^<2> had the honour of producing it. The mincepies were also good and it was a great pity the family were absent.

The weather on Xmas day mild and foggy but not thick fog.

A great deal might be made of the Phantascope ^<3> process – it has great capabilities – it could not have been shown in former days since it depends on having a very large sheet of very pure plateglass, and an oxyhydrogen light, or else a magnesium light, neither of which were known in former days –

The illusion would be most complete in a small theatre in a private house with a very small stage – The audience should be in total darkness. The actors of course should speak their parts; Here it was all dumb gesticulation, the parts being read by the prompter, in a very monotonous tone of voice the same for everybody, as if he was greatly bored by having to read it.

A very good subject for it would be the Temptations of Saint Anthony, ^<4> the saint seated in his cell and assailed by owls bats and all sorts of evil spirits – till at length he bethinks himself

---

Notes:

1. Ela Theresa Talbot (1835–1893), WHFT’s 1st daughter.

2. Wick Farm, Lacock, Wiltshire.

3. Phantascopes, sometimes called Phantasmascopes or Phenakistoscopes, existed in various forms since the 1830s. They relied on a slitted revolving drum - viewing the succession of images inside the rotating drum gave the illusion of motion. In the one that WHFT and his daughter saw, the image was projected onto a large sheet of glass, itself invisible to the audience but forming a mirror, which gave the impression of a moving figure suspended in the air. [See Doc. No: 03006].

4. A popular theme that has excited both painters and musicians.