Athenæum, Saturday
April 17th 1869
My Dear Constance
I am quite ready to set off for Italy, and should have started this afternoon, but extremely bad weather has set in and I have therefore put off my departure till Monday. It is a considerable time since I have heard from any of you, and therefore I direct to Venice as I do not know on what day you propose to leave it. – I am sorry to say that Mrs Traherne<1> is very unwell, she imprudently exposed herself to the late cold weather and it brought on an attack of bronchitis – Christina Nicholl<2> is nursing her at St Hilary.
Mlle Amélina<3> will have seen in the paper the death of the Countess of Mornington whom she knew formerly as Mrs Bligh<4> – Pray tell Monie that I am not bringing out with me Ruskin’s Stones of Venice<5> because I heard that she had been able to borrow it, and did not want it at present. I will bring a copy of Mr Ffoulkes’s celebrated pamphlet–<6>
You remember I dare say meeting Ld Carnarvon<7> on the Montanvert in 1833 and afterwards at Genoa. His son has published a text in the Morea copied from his fathers journal.<8> I will bring it with me. I left Lacock in fine weather and in beauty last Tuesday the lilacs were almost in flower and the horse chesnuts will be soon. You cant think how pretty the patches of sky blue Anemones Apennina are, which Miss Gibson Craig<9> gave me. They now grow wild in the shrubbery, besides adorning both sides of the Alcove. Caroline<10> keeps hers in a pot in her greenhouse she dug them up herself in the woods outside the walls of Rome and therefore prizes them highly. I think Charlie Edgcumbe<11> has arrived in Australia 2 months ago for I noticed in the papers the arrival of a Steamer which I think was the one he took his passage in, but Caroline has not confirmed this intelligence as yet. In his journey across India from Bombay to Calcutta he passed through Benares and has sent some interesting & very curious photographs of that city, which Car. showed me. What a pity we did not know it or we might have given him a letter of introduction to Mr Shakspear<12> who wd have been delighted I am sure to show him hospitality. Adieu
Love to all Your affte
Henry
I see Charles <13> every day tomorrow we are going to Kew Garden.
Notes:
1. Charlotte Louisa Mansel Traherne, née Talbot, 'Charry' (1800-1880), WHFT's cousin.
2. Christiana Judy Nicholl, of Merthyr Mawr.
3. Amélina Petit de Billier, 'Mamie', 'Amandier' (1798- 8 September 1876), governess and later close friend of the Talbot family [See Amélina's journal].
4. Helena Paterson, Countess of Mornington (d 7 April 1869). She married firstly Capt Thomas Bligh (d. before 1828) and secondly William Pole-Tylney-Long-Wellesley, 4th Earl of Mornington (1788-1857).
5. John Ruskin, The Stones of Venice (London: Smith, Elder, & Co, 1851-1853).
6. Edmund Salisbury Ffoulkes (1819-1894) a clergyman who converted from Anglicanism to Catholicism and then back again. He published a number of pamphlets - the one here might have been The Church's creed or the Crown's creed? a letter to the Most Rev. Archbishop Manning (London: J T Hayes, 1868).
7. Henry John George Herbert (1800-1849), 3rd Earl of Carnarvon. He and his wife narrowly missed being in on the invention of photography. WHFT had met up with them in the French alps and then they took a palace in Genoa for a period. It was in nearby Bellagio that WHFT had his inspiration for photography at the beginning of October 1833. See Doc. No: 02752.
8. Henry Howard Molyneux Herbert (1831-1890), 4th Earl of Carnarvon: Reminiscences of Athens and the Morea; extracts from a journal of travels in Greece in 1839 (London: John Murray, 1869).
9. Margaret Christian Gibson-Craig (d. 1871), daughter of Sir James Gibson-Craig, Scottish politician
10. Lady Caroline Augusta Edgcumbe, née Feilding (1808-1881); WHFT's half-sister.
11. Charles Ernest Edgcumbe (1838-1915), JP, WHFT's nephew.
12. A relative of Mary Ann Thackeray, née Shakespear (1793-1850); WHFT's cousin. Several of her brothers were employed by the East India Company - see Sir William Wilson Hunter, The Thackerays in India, and Some Calcutta Graves (London: Henry Frowde, 1897).
13. Charles Henry Talbot, 'Charlie' or 'Tally' (2 Feb 1842 - 26 Dec 1916), antiquary & WHFT's only son.