Sunday
London 24 June
My Dear Constance
If any letters come for me marked to be forwarded please to forward them to the Poste Restante, Paris –
If I can get ready I propose to go to Dover tomorrow. Uncle Wm <1> means to set off to the Pyrenees the 3d July & perhaps pick me up at Paris where I stay a week or 10 days – But he is very uncertain of going because Sir R. Sheffield <2> is very ill and they do not like to leave England unless there is an improvement – Wm has engaged the courier I recommended though I never saw him. Jane’s <3> courier named Volmer; She sent me his wrong address, by which means I failed to engage him, my letter being returned with "not known" written on it.
Would you like to have some news of Emily Murray? <4> She has established herself at Lucca Baths where she is very happy, botanising on Pratofiorito, an old botanical favourite place of mine –
The fire at Brickworth was most destructive fortunately Mrs S was absent – All Johns letters books memorials &c were burnt, among other things, a most valuable gold watch of the late Ld Ilchesters wch was left to Mrs S’s son & intended to be a heirloom <5>
Caroline got a very good place at the Review, <6> just over the Queen (who was in her carriage) She says when all the Volunteers cheered at once the effect was astounding – The prince of Wales looked well on horseback. At one time Carolines curiosity was excited because the Queen kept earnestly giving directions not looking at the Volunteers but the other way, and several officers rode up to speak to the Queen as if trying to understand her wishes – At length Caroline made out what was the matter. The Queen who sees everything, perceived the Moorish ambassadors struggling through the mob The Police made an effort and effected a passage through which the Moors crept and sat down on the grass in a comfortable place. Caroline showed me a portrait of the Princess Clotilde who is plain but très spirituelle and told me an anecdote of her. Some one was saying to her it was a pity King Victor Emmanuel should part with Savoy – the cradle of his family. She replied "Ayant vendu sa fille, pourquoi ne vendrait il pas son berçeau?" – in the family.
Ld Mt E <7> is only coming to Town to consult Dr Bence Jones <8> for a few days – He is coming to Portsmouth in his Steam yacht accompanied by a sailing yacht lest the engines of the steamer shd be disabled.
Adieu
Your affte
Henry
Notes:
1. William Thomas Horner Fox Strangways, 4th Earl of Ilchester (1795- 10 Jan 1865), botanist, art collector & diplomat; WHFT's favourite uncle.
2. Sir Robert Sheffield (1786-1862), 4th Baronet, of Normanby Park, a relative through the Digby line of the mother of William Thomas Horner Fox Strangways.
3. Jane Harriot Nicholl, née Talbot (1796-1874), WHFT's cousin.
4. Amelia ‘Emily’ Matilda Murray (1795–1884), author and Maid of Honor to Queen Victoria. Although a strong advocate in the Royal Court for the education of delinquent and abandoned children, she defended the institution of slavery in the American South after her travels there between July 1854 and October 1855. The publication of her memoir on this forced her resignation as Woman of the Bedchamber. Murray, Letters from the United States, Cuba, and Canada (London: J. W. Parker & Son, 1856).
5. Brickworth House, Wiltshire, between Salisbury and Southampton, was owned by Lord Nelson. It had been the home of WHFT's recently deceased uncle, John George Charles Fox Strangways (1803- 8 Sep 1859), MP. His widow, Lady Amelia, née Marjoribanks (d. 1886), had been staying in London. In preparation for her return, the fireplaces were lit, and on the evening of 27 May 1860 a fire broke out. In spite of the efforts of the neighbors, the fire, fanned by high winds, destroyed nearly all of the stately home and its contents, except for the servant's quarters. Only some furniture was saved from the conflagration.
6. Lady Caroline Augusta Edgcumbe, née Feilding (1808-1881); WHFT's half-sister; Lady of the Bedchamber to Queen Victoria, 1840–1854 & 1863–1865. On 23 June 1860, the year-old Volunteer Army went on review, filling London's Hyde Park with a crowd said to be the size of that on the opening day of the Great Exhibition. More than 30,000 troops paraded before the Queen.
7. Ernest Augustus Edgcumbe, Lord Valletort, 3rd Earl of Mt Edgcumbe (1797-1861), WHFT's brother-in-law.
8. Henry Bence Jones, MD, FRS (1814–1873), physician and chemist.