Laycock Abbey
Decr 2nd
My Dear Henry
I am very much obliged to you for the trouble you have taken about my vignettes; I have heard nothing more of them since, as Mr Moore <1> has never answered Mama’s <2> letter, & as Mr Power has not sent me any proofs, I cannot correct them. Since you went I have discovered scratched on the chimney-piece in the stone gallery, Edward Crue 1646. This & the bases of the pillars in the Chapter house are the only discoveries that have been made. We frightened Kit <3> the other evening, by sending William <4> to make horrid groans in the secret staircase, for which occupation he is peculiarly adapted, having been turned away from his last situation for exercising too freely his talent in that line – Kit was completely taken in at first, but afterwards imagined they were cats; however he never suspected the truth, though we have shewn him the staircase since. Mama longs to hear from you; & to know how you like Brighton. I suppose by this time you have made acquaintances with the Duchess of St Albans; <5> how do you like her?
Mr Bowles <6> has sent Mama his new poem called Days departed, or Banwell-hill, a tale of the Severn-Sea. <7> There is a great deal against the Saints in the preface. Pray write to some of us soon, as we have only heard once,
& believe me your affectionate Sister
Caroline –
W.H. Fox Talbot Esqr –
Devonshire
Post Office
Brighton
Sussex
Notes:
1. Thomas Moore (1780–1852), Irish poet.
2. Lady Elisabeth Theresa Feilding, née Fox Strangways, first m Talbot (1773–1846), WHFT’s mother.
3. Christopher Rice Mansel Talbot (1803–1890), immensely wealthy landowner, mathematician & politician; WHFT’s Welsh cousin.
4. William Thomas Horner Fox Strangways, 4th Earl of Ilchester (1795–1865), botanist, art collector & diplomat.
5. Harriot Mellon, Duchess of St Albans (1777–1837), actress.
6. Rev William Lisle Bowles (1762–1850), Wiltshire poet & antiquary.
7. Days departed; or, Banwell Hill; a lay of the Severn Sea (London: Murray, 1828).