Wednesday
My dear Henry
I hear that our railroad to Bath opens today. - I should like to take advantage of it, (if you approve,) & go pleasuring both to Bath & to Bristol with Miss Cotton. <1> - She has a friend at Clifton <2> whom she would like much to see & she want to buy a pr of spectacles at Bristol. - Then she would like to see Bath, her only knowledge of that place having been gathered 20 years ago by passing through it & only stopping to sleep there. - I will promise not to over-fatigue myself & think it will perhaps be better to make 2 days of it than to attempt to ramble over all Clifton & all Bath the same day. -
If the weather should continue as little showery as it is today, the excursions will please us both equally. - Today we are thinking of a drive to Bowood in the Cobourg <3> if the rain s keeps off long enough. - Yesterday we walked up Bowden hill <4> through Mr Sotheron's <5> grounds, & sheltered ourselves under the trees during a very heavy storm. The clouds cleared off well before we reached the top - and Miss Cotton was enchanted with the view. - It is very unfavorable for Porter's occupations. <6>- & only four copies could be made yesterday. -
Yr affte
Constance
Notes:
1. A flower-painter [see Doc. No: 03318].
2. Clifton, Bristol, on the Avon Gorge.
3. Bowood House, nr Calne, Wiltshire, 5 mi NE of Lacock: seat of the Marquess of Lansdowne. The cobourg was a two-wheeled covered carriage, used especially in the country.
4. Bowden Hill, Wiltshire, 1 mi SE of Lacock.
5. Thomas Henry Sutton Sotheron Bucknall Estcourt (1801-1876), MP.
6. Charles Porter (b. 1828), a servant at Lacock Abbey. He was the frequent subject of photographs and occasionally also photographic assistant.