Saltram <1>
4 Septr August 1828
My dearest Henry
While we remained at Lacock I trusted to your Mother & sisters <2> to write & fear they have not done so as often as I thought they had, I will take over however that one Letter at least every week shall go to you. Though I fear we shall not have much labor to describe for your amusement – We were lucky in the change of weather having taken place the very day we set out for Blandford Races it has continued fair ever since, & accordingly we think we have done very well – except indeed that the Easterly wind which brought the fair weather brought also a return of Cough to both your sisters, which was not diminished by all our sightseeing since – They were much pleased with their sejour at Mr Bankes <3> – liked the races, danced all night at the Balls, enjoyed the ordinary Dinner, & were enchanted with Corfe Castle. on our road here we slept at Honiton stayed a short Time to see the Cathedral at Exeter, & proceeded by a drive which would have delighted you by Powderham Minehead & legbrook [sic] (this last the most beautiful Park I ever saw) to Torquay – I am not sure though if Mt Edgecumbe <4> which we saw yesterday is not finer – the sea & the ships add so much to the Landscape (a Bull I suppose) – The Russian Squadron lays in the sound, & we went on board the commodores ship & to the Break water – pretty well for one Day – we had the Admirals Barge with 12 Men, so that your Mother was not the least alarmed, & Lord Mt Edgecumbe <5> shewed us his House & lent us his Carriage to go over the Grounds – so we were fête in the grandest way. The Gardens there are quite beautiful – but your sisters will describe them more scientifically than I should were I to attempt telling you how many & how large are the Magnolias which grow like apple Trees all over the garden. Tomorrow we shall go to Plymouth Dock yard, on board the windsor [sic] Castle & for me to see some of my old Haunts. & next day hope to get through [illegible] to Carclew <6> – where we shall stay quietly for a fortnight at least – & there on I hope to accomplish the cure of the Coughs, which make me very uncomfortable particularly Horatia – not that hers is worse than Caroline but she looks so delicate, that I quite tremble to think of her not being quite well before the winter sets in – We begin to think it long since we have heard from you but probably we shall find Letters at Carclew – I trust that the change of weather has been universal & that you have benefitted by it as well as us – The Drives about this place are beautiful, very like the North of Devonshire today we are going in a car on a rail road to Dartmoor to the Granite Quarries – News I have little for you –
The Duke of Clarence <7> I fancy will after making some sacrifices remain at the Admiralty – The Russians are checked in their Progress & do not find it so easy to advance as they expected – why the Emperor went to Odessa we are still to learn – The idea seems to gain ground of the Duke’s inclination to forward the Catholic Question <8> – but I do not well see upon what foundation except indeed that the necessity is daily more apparent of doing something – Auckland <9> has had & has some disagreeable business on his hands owing to the sub Treasurer turning out to be a Defaulter to a great amount – and as he (Auckland) had audited these accounts, it would seem to be more or less his Fault. however it is said that he had nothing to do with it, no body ever has when the Country suffers – I conclude you will be about coming home when we are in Dorsetshire & will probably join us there. we go to Moreton <10> as well as Melbury, <11> but in what order I really do not yet know – God bless you. continue to write & keep us au courant <12> of your movements – I hope you will fall in with the Lansdownes <13> they are to be at Milan the first week in October – I hope you will be pleased with the state to which Things were brought before the workmen were discharged. There is nothing going on now except the painting which could not be done while we remained & a Job or two of the Plasterer for the same reason. The fine weather came in Time for the crops to be tolerably got in –
Monsieur
Monsieur Fox Talbot
Switzerland
Poste Restante
Genève
Notes:
1. Seat of the Earl of Morley in South West Devon.
2. Lady Elisabeth Theresa Feilding, née Fox Strangways, first m Talbot (1773–1846), WHFT’s mother,Caroline Augusta Edgcumbe, née Feilding, Lady Mt Edgcumbe (1808–1881); WHFT’s half-sister and Henrietta Horatia Maria Gaisford, née Feilding (1810–1851), WHFT’s half-sister.
3. William John Bankes (1786–1855), politician.
4. Mt Edgecumbe, near Plymouth: seat of the Earl of Mt Edgcumbe.
5. Ernest Augustus Edgcumbe, Lord Valletort, 3rd Earl of Mt Edgcumbe (1797–1861), WHFT’s brother-in-law.
6. Carclew, Cornwall, 3 mi N of Penryn: seat of Sir Charles Lemon.
7. Subsequently King William IV. He was Lord High Admiral from 1827 to 1828.
8. Catholic emancipation, the achievement of full civil rights for Roman Catholics, including the right to sit in Parliament. This was conceded in 1829 after Daniel O’Connell (1775–1847), was elected MP.
9. George Eden, 1st Earl of Auckland (1784–1849), Governor General of India.
10. Moreton, Dorset: home of the Frampton family.
11. Melbury, Dorset: one of the Fox Strangways family homes; WHFT was born there.
12. Up to date.
13. Henry Petty Fitzmaurice, 3rd Marquess of Lansdowne (1780-1863), MP, WHFT's uncle; and his wife, Louisa Emma, née Fox Strangways, Marchioness of Lansdowne (1785-1851); Lady of the Bedchamber to Queen Victoria, 1837-1838; WHFT's aunt.