Wednesday
My dear Henry
Your letter <1> on Monday was an agreeable surprise – and very kind of you to tell us all about your railway adventures, as we might have seen disjointed accounts in the newspapers of an accident without making out whether it was your train or a former one.
We drove to Bath that Monday by Bradford, & had an agreable [sic] drive – & though we passed through part of Melksham, <2> we just contrived not to drive past the Canary bird Nasturtium.
Lady Elisabeth & Horatia <3> set forth on their travels this morning – they go direct to Alton & intend to make 3 days of it in order to see the sights by the way. – Buxton will come next on their list of visits & afterwards Markeaton. <4> – Must I let John Humphries <5> have as many dozen of glass bottles as he wants for sticking on the top of the Farm yard wall?
I have been so busy drawing the last two days, that my eyes & head are quite tired, so you must excuse a scrawl.
Your affte
Constance
Notes:
1. See Doc. No: 04135.
2. Melksham, Wiltshire: market town near Lacock, 2 miles S.
3. Lady Elisabeth Theresa Feilding, née Fox Strangways, first m Talbot (1773–1846), WHFT’s mother and Henrietta Horatia Maria Gaisford, née Feilding (1810–1851), WHFT’s half-sister.
4. Markeaton Hall, Derbyshire, NW of Derby: home of the Mundy family.
5. John Humphries, gardener at Lacock Abbey in the early 1840’s.