St Leonards <1>
Friday April 20
My dear Henry
You cannot think how very glad I am to have heard from you at last – for I wanted so much to know how you got through your uncomfortable journey – I was quite distressed to see you climb upon that odious Coach – it looked so difficult & dangerous that I fancied you would not reach the top in safety – Ela <2> watched your proceedings from the window where I stood, – & when the coach set off she turned her little face to me, & with an expression of sadness that was quite touching said, “Poor Papa is gone away”! – I think the air of the place agrees nicely with both of them, for they are looking very well, notwithstanding their confinement to the house since we have had such wretchedly cold weather. yesterday was very stormy here, though you speak of having had settled weather in London. – Between the Storms Laura <3> & I contrived to walk to Hastings in search of the Artist – He was not at home & therefore we were obliged to return without seeing any of his pictures – He has called on me this morning, but having brought nothing with him to shew me, I could decide nothing but that I would wait a few days till a sketch which he is now employed upon is sufficiently advanced for me to see. – Mr Forster <4> has a brisk pleasant manner, very unlike poor Mr Curtis. <5> – which leads me to think that the kind of slight sketch of which I think is the most suitable style for children, would be speedily executed by him. I am awaiting his next visit with impatience – Ela cannot possibly look better or more animated than she does at present – so I think this is a favorable moment for taking her picture – I will not trouble you about the Baby’s <6> biscuits because I have fortunately met with some here that will do very well – but before you leave London, (any time will do) I shall be glad if you will pay to Harriot <7> or rather to my Brother <8> the sum of £1·5·0 for the making up of a worked cushion – & also [illegible deletion] I must request you to take charge of the said cushion & bring it with you to our destined place of meeting wherever that may be.
I should be very glad too if you could settle with Harriot for the 28 lbs. of Arrowroot which we had from her last year – Some money destined for the payment of part of it is now in my hands which I will repay to you after you have settled with Harriot. – My Sisters <9> are dis-appointed at hearing nothing from our Brother in answer to<10> their letter which informed him for of your having invited them to Lacock & of their desire to accept the said invitation, if he would make the necessary arrangement about their carriage. – I believe I did not explain to you that this carriage is not a present from him but an exchange for my Sisters’ portion of the family plate which had been left equally to them & to my Brother, but which they agreed to give up to him in consideration of a suitable carriage being provided for them instead. – His silence shows that he has done nothing yet, & therefore I hope you will do as you proposed about calling upon him & urging him on to more active proceedings. – He is apt to be exceedingly slow in matters of business. – I am much more comfortable than when you went away – though the weather is still too cold to please me – I believe I had over fatigued myself a little in London & have been feeling the effects of it since – I hope you will pay a visit to Mrs Chambers <11> some day when you are visiting Aunt Matilda in Somerset St. <12> Her number is 21. – the corner house near Miss Feilding’s – My Sister & I do our best to read the news in the Globe
Your very affectionate
Constance
H. F. Talbot Esqre
31 Sackville Street
London
Notes:
1. Sussex, west of Hastings.
2.Ela Theresa Talbot (25 Apr 1835 - 25 Apr 1893), WHFT's 1st daughter.
3. Laura Mundy (1805–1842), WHFT’s sister-in-law.
4. Almost certainly Robert Edward Forster (b. 1811) a London artist & teacher of drawing and a regular exhibitor of portraits in the Royal Academy from 1838-1855 (he went bankrupt in 1861). He was commissioned to do portraits of daughters Ela and Rosamond - see Doc. No: 03673, and Doc. No: 03667.
5. Possibly Charles M. Curtis who illustrated the early volumes of J. F. Stephens’s Illustrations of British Entomology. [See Doc. No: 03646].
6. Rosamond Constance Talbot (16 Mar 1837 - 7 May 1906), 'Rose'; 'Monie'; artist & WHFT's 2nd daughter; died & buried at San Remo, Italy, with a memorial at Lacock.
7. Harriot Georgiana Mundy, née Frampton (1806-1886), WHFT’s cousin & sister-in-law.
8. William Mundy (1801-1877), politician, WHFT’s brother-in-law.
9. Laura; Emily Mundy (1807– 5 November 1839); Marian Gilder, née Mundy (1806 – 14 October 1860); m. 6 August 1844 William Troward Gilder (d. 1871), Army Surgeon (ret.; WHFT’s sisters-in-law.
10. Text torn away with seal.
11. An Aunt of Richard Charles Mellish (d. 1865), a clerk in the Foreign Office 1824–1855.
12. Matilda Feilding (1775-1849), WHFT's 'aunt' - sister of Charles Feilding, his stepfather.
13. Charles Earnest Edgcumbe (1838–1915), JP, WHFT’s nephew.
14. Text torn away under seal.