Coedriglan <1>
7 March.
1840
Dear Talbot,
I have received the accompanying [ratio] from Bruce Knight which I think worth forwarding to you.
Do you know anything of a Lunatic Asylum at Devises Kept by a person of the name of Phillips? <2>
Our Union has thought fit to remove the lunatics from there to Bailbrook House.
I hear that a considerable sum is about to be expended by Phillips in enlarging his Premises – if the Establishment be not in some extrication, this seems an odd circumstance –
If you could find out from any friend in the neighbourhood (without mentioning the quarter where the enquiry arises) what is thought of the Establishment – & whether the Medical attendance be respectable in point of talent, you will oblige me.
Believe me to remain, Yours truly,
John M. Traherne.
Notes:
1. Coedriglan, near Cardiff, Wales: home of the Rev John Montgomerie Traherne, husband of WHFT’s cousin Charlotte.
2. Thomas Phillips, governor of the Lunatic Asylum at Bellevue.
3. Charlotte Louisa 'Charry' Traherne, née Talbot (1800–1880), WHFT’s cousin.
4. With the coming of an unusually bright Spring in 1840, WHFT rapidly improved his photogenic drawing process, particularly in producing negatives in the camera, a goal that had been frustrated by the terribly bad weather throughout 1839.