Lacock Abbey
Wednesday December 5th
My dear Henry
How happens it that I hear nothing of nobody’s return? – no observation on the subject since the beginning of last week when it was intimated to me that you might probably all come together on Tuesday (that is as yesterday) – Pompey <1> barked loudly several times in the course of the evening & made me quite nervous from the idea of your possibly arriving without notice – no fires in your rooms & nothing prepared beyond a commendable quantity of cold cleanliness in each of your apartments. – I suppose that it was owing to my peculiar state <2> that my head became filled with all these whims & fancies – certainly from some cause or other I have found this last absence of yours more tedious than any former one – perhaps because I am less able to employ myself busily without experiencing fatigue. – And the very consciousness of having many things to do without the strength to get through them is very of it[self] very fatiguing. – Then I can’t abide the trouble of eating alone especially dinner! –
I was so very happy to receive the account you sent me a few days ago of your well earned literary honors! <3> & nothing but the hope of congratulating you in person, could have prevented my writing immediately to tell you how pleased I was – & it was so kind of you to send me such a full & charming account of the evening’s proceedings! – All the planting that you ordered to be done was finished some days back & nothing I should imagine can be more favorable for the young trees than the present state of the weather – How disastrous are the accounts of shipwrecks in the Newspapers! – I think I never remember so many storms in succession –
Mr Paley <4> has just been paying me a long visit & giving me much information respecting the poor. – He says the state of distress generally from low wages & high prices of provisions (bread especially) is so great that he does not know how the y can possibly struggle through the winter. – He is quite dejected on this subject, & also on account of the state of his son’s <5> health
The children <6> are quite well & Rosamond has had no return of teething troubles.
I will not write more lest you should have left London ere my letter arrives – If you are still there however I shall be glad if you will give my love to Horatia. <7> – Ela sends you a kiss & Rosamond often asks for you –
Your affectionate
Constance.
Henry Fox Talbot Esqre
31. Sackville Street
London –
Notes:
1. Pompey was a family dog, mentioned from 1832-1838.
2. She was pregnant with Matilda Caroline Gilchrist-Clark, ‘Tilly’, née Talbot (1839–1927), WHFT’s 3rd daughter.
3. WHFT was awarded the Royal Gold Medal from the Royal Society for his Mathematical papers. [See Doc. No: 03760].
4. Rev James Paley (1790–1863), Vicar at Lacock.
5. Rev Robert C Paley (1829-1853), missionary to Abbeokuta, photographer.
6. Ela Theresa Talbot (1835–1893), WHFT’s 1st daughter and Rosamond Constance ‘Monie’ Talbot (1837–1906), artist & WHFT’s 2nd daughter.
7. Henrietta Horatia Maria Gaisford, née Feilding (1810–1851), WHFT’s half-sister.