[this is written on the same sheet as a note from Horatia - see Doc. No: 03771]
L. abbey
Monday 8th Feby
Dear Henry
I hope by this time 200 of my Cards are arrived in Sackville Street <1>, as I ordered them from Halfhide’s <2> to be there to day. Pray send one to Madame de Lieven’s <3> at Ashburnham House tomorrow, if they are not yet sent home, Franklin <4> can get one from Halfhide’s for that purpose, for if it is not sent to Madme de L’s in the course of tomorrow it is no use. Halfhide lives in Coventry Street – We spent yesterday Morning at Bowood <5> to day they are all gone to Sidmouth. Part of Kerry’s <6> Prize Composition is printed, Mr Moore <7> has seen it & thinks it extremely good, far beyond what he expected. The subject is rather beyond his years, “The Influence of the Bible on the Literature of England” <8> – But the quantity of Books it has obliged him to consult has done him infinite good. Mr Moore seems in high glee, & told us that among all his laudators none had pleased him so much as Professor Babbidge <9> [sic] who said his analysis of the character of Byron <10> came nearer to Science than any thing he had ever read. This from him was the highest praise, besides Mr Moore says his own reasoning powers are strong, which nobody will believe because he is a Poet, and that Babbidge alone does him justice in this respect. The Gallery <11> looks so gay now the roof of the new room is gone, all the Sun comes in again. I wish you saw it without its old cumbersome furniture, it does not look narrow at all. –
W. Henry Fox Talbot
31 Sackville Street
London
Notes:
1. 31 Sackville Street, London residence of the Feildings, often used as a London base by WHFT.
2. Engravers at Piccadilly, London.
3. Princess Dorothea Lieven (1785–1857), wife of the Russian Ambassador to London (1812–1834).
4. Franklin, servant.
5. Bowood House, nr Calne, Wiltshire, 5 mi NE of Lacock: seat of the Marquess of Lansdowne.
6. William Thomas Fitzmaurice, Earl of Kerry (1811–1836), MP.
7. Thomas Moore (1780–1852), Irish poet.
8. William Thomas Fitzmaurice, Earl of Kerry, An essay upon the influence of the translation of the Bible upon English Literature (Cambridge: 1830).
9. Prof Charles Babbage (1792–1871), mathematician & inventor.
10. Thomas Moore’s Life of Byron appeared in 1830. [See Doc. No: 01918].
11. See Doc. No: 01875.