Laycock Abbey
17th March
My Dear Henry
a thousand joys to you that it is all so happily over. Pray write again very soon, as we shall be very anxious for another account. Let Olive or Olivia be one of her <1> names, & let them all be pretty very pretty I beg & desire. Gwendoline is a family name, so is Maude or Matilda, so is Ankaret, so are Perina Gertrude Leonilla & Gilberta. Our ancestors had great variety. Dont let it be a common name. Theresa is very pretty, so is Julia, so is Blanche, & Camilla, & Cecilia. I hope you will do better than Ly Jersey <2> who after waiting and searching a long time for a superlatively exquisite name for her youngest daughter, at last found nothing better than Adela. Lady Londonderry <3> did better who after long deliberation pitched on Hyacintha. On the whole I think Theresa Olive would run off the tongue better & more musically than most. You fell into an egregious solecism last time in having Lord & Lady Ilchester <4> both sponsors for the same child!
The weather continues gloomy & cold & repulsive to all the genial efforts of Spring. Did you see some verses in the Examiner which begin “Month of March, why the devil dont you March? Everybody must be impatient to get rid of it, I never remember such a one. Mr F. <5> has taken a great deal of trouble about Mr Elgee’s? <6> appointment, & I am sorry it has failed for this year, it was decided this morning
Dont fail to write again soon
affly yrs
E F
Henry Fox Talbot Esqr
65 Harley Street
London
Notes:
1. Rosamond Constance ‘Monie’ Talbot (1837–1906), artist & WHFT’s 2nd daughter.
2. Sarah Sophia Villiers, née Fane, Lady Jersey (1785–1867).
3. Frances Anne Emily Stewart-Vane, née Vane-Tempest (d. 1865), wife of the 3rd Marquess of Londonderry.
4. Henry Stephen Fox Strangways, 3rd Earl of Ilchester (1787–1858), and Juliana Maria Strangways, née Digby (d. 1842).
5. Rear Admiral Charles Feilding (1780–1837), Royal Navy; WHFT’s step-father.
6. See Doc. No: 03456.
7. William Thomas Horner Fox Strangways, 4th Earl of Ilchester (1795–1865), botanist, art collector & diplomat.