20 Clarendon Court
6 April 1875
My dear Mr Talbot,
At the meeting of the Council of the Royal Society <1> I announced that you are preparing a paper <2> on the subject of the final solution of theoretical equations, and the members present expressed their satisfaction of the prospect of receiving another contribution from you. I agree with you as to the extreme difficulty of ascertaining exactly what has been done in this subject, but I apprehend it is by no means requisite to guard oneself with extreme care in your case, as at any rate whatever may be the amount of advance which the subject shall occur, it will at least be approached with vigour & clearness of perception I hope therefore you will be able to send down the paper with [sic] loss of time as the session of the R. S. closes early in May.
Will you remember me & Mrs Kelland to the ladies <3> of your house
Yours truly
Philip Kelland
[envelope:]
H. Fox Talbot Esq
Lacock Abbey
Chippenham
Notes:
1. Royal Society Council (P M Roget).
2. Probably WHFT, ‘Essay towards a General Solution of Numerical Equations of all Degrees having Integer Roots’. Read on 17 May 1875. Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, v. 27, part 3 (1874–1875), p. 303.
3. Constance Talbot, née Mundy (1811–1880), WHFT’s wife; Ela Theresa Talbot (1835–1893), WHFT’s 1st daughter; Rosamond Constance ‘Monie’ Talbot (1837–1906), artist & WHFT’s 2nd daughter.