Athenæum <1>
Sunday April 26
My Dear Charles
Accounts have been received in Town from Sydney dated nineteen days after the attempted assassination of the Duke of Edinburgh <2> and he was still progressing favorably towards recovery. But the wound was very nearly proving fatal and if the ball had taken a slightly different direction it would have been so. The Prince will be sent home to England – If this had not happened he would have gone on to New Zealand where the greatest preparations had been made to give him a loyal welcome. He would likewise have visited the islands of the Pacific, and returned home next year by way of Cape Horn. But all that is now at an end. I propose to leave this Tuesday, but any letters forwarded on Monday will be in time, as I shall call at the Club for them.
Your affte
Father
Envelope:
C. H. Talbot EsqLacock abbey
Chippenham
Notes:
1. Athenaeum Club, Pall Mall, London: WHFT’s club; a gentleman’s club composed primarily of artists and scientists.
2. Alfred Ernest Albert, duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, duke of Edinburgh (1844–1900), second son and fourth child of Queen Victoria; in 1868, he was the first prince to visit Australia. However, during a trip to Sydney, he was shot in the back with a revolver by an Irishman named Henry James O’Farrell. Fortunately for the prince the wound was not serious, whereupon he was soon able to resume his round the world trip. O’Farrell was hanged soon after the incident.