Clemenstone
June 15

My dear Henry

I have several times intended writing to you & have been interrupted but as I know you will like to hear of poor Isabella after her sad loss, I shall now write & tell you about all here. It was only the last week of dear Susies life that any cause for immediate alarm was allowed by the Doctor, but a rapid Decline without any of the fallaceous [sic] & deceitful appearances of improvement which so frequently blind friends & attendants in consumptive cases, had given warning that her end was approaching & three days before her death I arrived here She was conscious to the last, & aff^ate to all around her as uncomplaining & patient as ever, a humble true Christian, & we have only ourselves to lament having lost such a pattern & example for she is beyond the reach of trouble or sorrow & no doubt rejoicing with those loved ones who are gone before. –

Isabella must long miss the one object of her cares & anxieties and poor M^r Franklen feels the loss very acutely too, but who could repine after witnessing so many years of patient suffering no one would wish her back again!

The Sisters are very good, controuling [sic] their own feelings & trying to be of as much use as possible to their parents. I hope in time they will all be able to enjoy their home from whence they had been absent for such a long time. We have now fine weather & when Isabella can be out in her Garden she is sure to be the better for it she has lived in it since her return from Clifton never having been beyond it but to Church for months past. her health is generally very good. –

Give my love to Constance & believe me your aff^ate Coz
Mary

[envelope:]
Henry Fox Talbot Esqe
Lacock Abbey
Chippenham