Lacock
30th January 1831
My Dear Mother,
I have no remarkable incidents to relate of my journey, so I will send you instead some more extracts of old letters -
In May 1722 Ann Ivory thinks her aunt Gilberta Talbot is dying,<1> & this is the way she takes it.
"The Account you give of my poor aunt Talbot makes me fear she will hardly recover, & should she do otherways than well before I come to Town, I should be at a loss when there for a Gound, or be obliged to buy one, so have sent up my tabby to be scower'd."<2>
John Ivory Talbot <3> writes to Henry Davenport <4> on November 7th 1719 from Lacock
"My inclinations are still more fixed for this place than ever, & it will be with the greatest reluctancy if I am drawn up to parliament this year. I am about so handsome a work (which I must own my brother Ivory forced me upon)<5> that you yourself will say when finished will be as surprising & agreeable as any gardens in England, & in some particulars almost as large, tho' not expensive largeness, for I include in my bounds of the garden my meadows, cow grounds, & hop yard which I shall begin upon before I'm a year older - I am very busy in turfing the slopes & walks of each side of my canal, & digging the borders for the walks in the wilderness."
The same to the same March 26th 1722
"I have had Switzer <6> here, who has drawn a plan for my gardens which is natural enough & not expensive, I shall begin on some of it soon. Now I am out of Parliament, I fancy I begin a new sort of life. I had liked to have been trapan'd into it again, being offer'd the County on Mr Hide's death<7>, but thank God we have persuaded another to accept of the trouble, which I would have done rather than Lord Herbert should carry it.<8> I am sorry to find already that there is little hopes of a better Parliament & I'll venture to foretell without the spirit of Prophecy that the villany of the last will be exceeded by that which is now chusing, they are to give the finishing stroke to our ruin."
So say the alarmists of the present day likewise -
Yours affly
Henry Talbot
You will find Lady Lansdowne <9> in Town.
Yesterday we planted 2 trees, making 20 in all.
Lady E. Feilding
31 Sackville Street
London
not to be forwarded
Notes:
1. No genealogy of Sir John Ivory has been traced, but a private act of Parliament amended the trust relations for them, confirming their existence. Gilberta Talbot was the unmarried sister of Anne Talbot (1665-1720) and Ann Ivory is assumed to be the daughter of Anne Talbot and Sir John Ivory (1656-1694).
2. Talbot definitely transcribed 'gound', which must have meant gown. The 'tabby' to be scoured would have been a striped silk taffeta in need of cleaning.
3. John Ivory Talbot (d. 1772), who later assumed the surname of Talbot, MP for Ludgershall (1715-1722) and Wiltshire (1727-1741), created a Doctor of Civil Law at Oxford University 1736.
4. Henry Davenport of Worfield, Shropshire (1677-1731), brother-in-law of John Ivory Talbot.
5. Most likely Talbot Ivory, who left to go to Ireland.
6. Stephen Switzer (1682-1745), garden designer.
7. Robert Hyde (1661-1722), MP for Wiltshire 1702-1722.
8. Lord Henry Herbert (1693-1749), later 9th Earl of Pembroke, MP for Wiltshire 1722-1741. John Ivory Talbot's escape was temporary, for he was returned for Wiltshire within five years.
9. Louisa Emma Petty Fitzmaurice, née Fox Strangways, Marchioness of Lansdowne (1785-1851), wife of Henry Petty Fitzmaurice, 3rd Marquess of Lansdowne; Lady of the Bedchamber to Queen Victoria, 1837-1838; WHFT's aunt.