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Document number: 01196
Date: 11 Jul 1824
Postmark: 1824
Recipient: TALBOT William Henry Fox
Author: NICHOLL Jane Harriot, née Talbot
Collection: British Library, London, Manuscripts - Fox Talbot Collection
Collection number historic: LA24-44
Last updated: 20th February 2012

July 11th
Montague Sqre

My dear Henry,

I am astonished that you do not “part company” & take a summers tour into Hungary & Bohemia if I were you I could not resist botanising in such an unknown region. I have no Botanical news whatever to send you but as you desire to know about the Animal World I will tell you all I know & expect you to excuse the stupidity of the letter. In the first place I must tell you the greatest & latest news which is that Mary <1> is actually in this house! which I suppose you will hardly believe for I who see her before me can hardly help thinking I dream, this is a proof of the advantage of once stirring from Penrice <2> I suppose no power could have moved her if she had not been at Malvern <3> or any where but at Penrice Malvern has done Charry <4> a great deal of good she has been better since she went there than she had been for a long time. The others are very well & enjoy the hills very much – We leave Town on Friday & take Malvern in our way to Merthyrmawr <5> so I shall have the pleasure of a sight of them. Aunt C. & Mr L. <6> came to Town yesterday (they brought Mary) to attend Miss Lemon’s <7> Wedding which will take place on Tuesday. Uncle Harry <8> left Town on Thursday & Aunt Louisa <9> &c go the end of this week – Kerry <10> is getting well but looks miserably thin & pale his spirits are very high so that he requires to be so closely watched for fear of his doing some silly thing which may throw him back. – Caroline’s <11> Drawing was sent to me the day before yesterday it arrived at Lansdowne House <12> the day Aunt L. left it for Bowood <13> so there it laid & she forgot it till Kerry was well again. My darling grows & improves every day, he becomes very interesting I assure you – I suppose I never had an opportunity of watching the forming of a mind before but it is a most engaging employment. I forwarded a letter from Isab Charlotte to you last week beside one from Emma <14> some weeks ago in which I wrote a few words both were sent to Baden. Aunt C. talks of going abroad this Autumn I suppose they will go immediately to Nice – [illegible] I shall envy them. William <15> enclo <16> a letter from John <17> yesterday which entertained me very much – he seems to have been delighted with Sicily & Stromboli – how I do regret my having been ill at Naples we might so well have spent a month of the time in Sicily &c but I live in hopes of taking Johnny <18> some day & then I am determined to have no regrets. We have had a most dismal summer the weather has been so very bad, now it is extremely hot but with a pleasant air, the nights are very sultry & unpleasant. We are just setting of [sic] for Malvern – I forget to send this on the proper day – Love to all – Write

yours affly
Jane

A Monsieur
Monsieur Talbot
Baden-Baden
Radstadt


Notes:

1. Mary Thereza Talbot (1795–1861), WHFT’s cousin.

2. Penrice Castle and Penrice House, Gower, Glamorgan, 10 mi SW of Swansea: home of Christopher Rice Mansel Talbot.

3. Malvern, or Great Malvern, 9 mi SW of Worcestershire.

4. Charlotte Louisa 'Charry' Traherne, née Talbot (1800–1880), WHFT’s cousin.

5. Merthyr Mawr, Glamorgan, on River Ogwr.

6. Lady Charlotte Anne Lemon, née Strangways (d. 1826), WHFT’s aunt, and Sir Charles Lemon (1784–1868), politician & scientist; WHFT’s uncle.

7. See Doc. No: 01195.

8. Henry Stephen Fox Strangways, 3rd Earl of Ilchester (1787–1858).

9. Henry Petty Fitzmaurice, 3rd Marquess of Lansdowne (1780–1863), MP, WHFT’s uncle.

10. William Thomas Fitzmaurice, Earl of Kerry (1811–1836), MP.

11. Caroline Augusta Edgcumbe, née Feilding, Lady Mt Edgcumbe (1808–1881); WHFT’s half-sister.

12. Lansdowne House, London: home of the Marquis of Lansdowne, WHFT's uncle and cousins.

13. Bowood House, nr Calne, Wiltshire, 5 mi NE of Lacock: seat of the Marquess of Lansdowne.

14. Emma Thomasina Llewelyn, née Talbot (1806–1881), photographer; WHFT’s Welsh cousin.

15. William Thomas Horner Fox Strangways, 4th Earl of Ilchester (1795–1865), botanist, art collector & diplomat.

16. Text torn away under seal.

17. John George Charles Fox Strangways (1803–1859), MP.

18. John Cole Nicholl (b. 1823), son of Jane Harriet Nicholl.