London –
14 Sept^r 1844

My dear Mother

I am particularly sorry I could not manage to come to M^t Edgcumbe ^<1> this time & see Caroline ^<2> – I cannot answer your question as to how long I shall stay in London it depends upon circumstances –

as Lord Byron ^<3> has it

“Circumstance – that unspiritual god

And miscreator!”

I am very glad you cleared up the question I asked about Lord Auckland. ^<4> My photographs then were the prey of the Crocodiles of the Ganges –

I hope you are enjoying yourself at M^t Edgcumbe – Caroline sent me such an account of its beauty & the blueness of the sea!

Your aff^te
Henry

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Notes:

1. Mt Edgecumbe, near Plymouth: seat of the Earl of Mt Edgcumbe.

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

3. George Gordon Byron, Childe Harold (canto IV, st. 125).

4. George Eden, 1^st Earl of Auckland (1784–1849), Governor General of India.