Oct 24h 73
St Hilary
My dear Henry
I got your letter at breakfast the day I left Bath – earlier than you thought on the postal train – I hope to go there again by & by & see you – but it would be vy nice if you & Rosamond <1> were to come & pay me a little visit here & we could go to Margam <2> together I dare say – I have just now got a bad cold but am mending I was expecting Edward <3> here soon & then I shall hear all about Macclesfield which he seems to like vy well – I have another book on spiders & Ants to shew you of Traherne Moggridge’s <4> – the book you mean I suppose is that on the Flowers of Mentone. I should like to see your Helen Shakespear I dont know which of <illegible> brothers she descends from – the weather is most stormy & disagreeable just now – & the leaves choking <illegible>. I desired not to have my garden cut away before I came home but now I must have it cleared up without my superintendence as my cold will not let me look after my old favorites – My anemonies blew beautifully but then I had hooped over this bed & covered them with a sheet at night most of the winter – they do so well here that there are always some blossoms to be found – I saw dear Jane <5> several times but she seldom speaks she looked pleased to see me but that was all – Tina & Theresa sit up alternate nights with her Lucy is but poorly – they have a vy comfortable house with a with a very fine view from it. & had it once before so it seemed home like – I hope Charles <6> will be the better for Weymouth bathing
Yours affy
Charlotte L. Traherne
Notes:
1. Rosamond Constance ‘Monie’ Talbot (1837–1906), artist & WHFT’s 2nd daughter.
2. Margam Park, Glamorgan: home of Christopher Rice Mansel Talbot.
3. Possibly Rev Edward Powell Nicholl (1831–1902), Vicar of Lacock from 1864 until his resignation in 1870; photographer.
4. John Traherne Moggridge (1842–1874), Harvesting ants and trap-door spiders. Notes and observations on their habits and dwellings (London: L. Reeve & Co., 1873).
5. Jane Harriot Nicholl, née Talbot (1796–1874).
6. Charles Henry Talbot (1842–1916), antiquary & WHFT’s only son.