Lacock Abbey
Monday. May 11. –
My dear Henry
I must write just to thank you for your doubly welcome letter – your own safe arrival & Lady Elisabeth’s <1> convalescence were both so pleasant to hear of! – Matilda <2> is quite well again now & merry, though she looks much thinner & more delicate than she did before this attack. – I do not think it was altogether her teeth, but perhaps something of the same kind as the others had. – They are very well – & at this moment solacing themselves for the disappointment of a wet day by drinking tea with Price <3> in the housekeeper’s room You must tell me how long you mean to stay in London that I may send you in time a list of things which you want yourself for photography. –We have had showery days ever since you went & today a more steady rain though exceedingly minute, scarcely deserving the name of anything but a fog – Still it seems to have refreshed the vegetable creation, & we may hope for more from the dull appearance of the sky. – How tiresome is blank Monday, today, when our curiosity is so much excited about Courvoisier!!
I suppose you know by this time a great many important facts. – Marian & Laura <4> are pretty well & rather sorry to feel that their time here is drawing to a close – but they have been here long enough for their good I think. –
Your affte
Constance
Notes:
1. Lady Elisabeth Theresa Feilding, née Fox Strangways, first m Talbot (1773–1846), WHFT’s mother.
2. Matilda Caroline Gilchrist-Clark, ‘Tilly’, née Talbot (1839–1927), WHFT’s 3rd daughter.
3. Mrs Sarah Henneman, first m Price ( ca.1811–1848), housemaid at Lacock Abbey.
4. Laura Mundy (1805–1842); 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.
5. Henrietta Horatia Maria Gaisford, née Feilding (1810–1851), WHFT’s half-sister.