London.
June 29th 1822
My Dear Mr Feilding,
Your letters of the 15th arrived today, they come very regularly in a fortnight. Mrs Campbell <1> recommended me a very good servant, a Corsican, who spoke English & French indifferently and Italian & German apparently very fluently – He had been Pozzo di Borgo’s <2> servant, & in the battles off St Vincents & at Waterloo <3> & had a high character from many people – I told him I would engage him if Nicolle <4> did not come, but he had another offer & would wait no longer – So away he went last Tuesday, & today (Saturday) comes a letter from Nicolle saying he is very ill at Paris & cannot come – I shall therefore look out for another directly – There is plenty of choice: applicants are as thick as mustard seed. Montgomerie <5> has not yet got his answer from the Bishop He has sent in 2 Certificates of ill health; one from Dr Williams the other from his Apothecary in the Country. Thrupp<6> was to have done the carriage by this time, but coachmakers are always longer than they say. I have been for a week at Normanton with Mr Bonney: <7> which was very pleasant. I went thro’ Cambridge, both going & coming, & met with a hearty welcome from my friends there. Mr Bonney gave me my medal, which the Vice Chancellor had given him to keep for me till I came to England. It is very handsome, large & heavy, solid gold. I have ordered my Booksellers’ at Paris, Treüttel & Würz <8> to send me several periodical works, such as the Paris monthly review, Verneur’s Journal des Voyages, <9> &c. He was to direct them all to Florence Pray enquire for them at the Poste Restante. – I sent you in the parcel to Leghorn, a thermometer such as you desired. Awdry<10> has been down here & I had a good deal of talk with him, which ended in reducing the rents about 10 per cent. or 300£, which diminishes my income to about 1300£ or 1400£, clear. Repairs are extremely heavy at Lacock, last year I paid no less than £820 for repairs & poor rates, &c. However in spite of this, the money accumulates in my banker’s hands, so that in the account he sent me in, the other day, there is a balance in my favour of £1258 not to mention £4253 in the Stocks. So you see you may ‘make yourself easy,’ as they say, about the 500£. Next year my Aunt Harriot <11> means to take the house, at least so she says – She & my Aunt Mary <12> are gone out of Town. Sir Christopher <13> is gone to Paris, to the astonishment of himself & all his friends – He will meet Jane <14> there. Kit <15> was in Town for a day or two, & is gone to Southampton, where he takes yacht & goes round the Land’s End to Penrice. <16> R. Quin & Ly H. P. Gallwey <17> are in Town. It seems that William has left Const. <18> & may be expected to pass thro’ Florence in his way home. Your news about Mrs Bunnett arrived long, long before your letter. I have begun Hebrew; it looks rather hard, but they say it soon becomes easy. I have a great aversion to having a master, it always fatigues me very much – I have however taken one, to teach me the received pronunciation; for I am sure nobody can tell how the Israelites really pronounced. All the Grammars give different ways of pronouncing the same vowel; & there is one letter which my grammar says can only be compared to the bleating of a calf. By comparing Proper Names it appears that the Translators of the Bible usually omit this letter entirely; but when a word begins with it, they express it by G, as in the word Gomorrah. We have had hot weather in Town; the thermometer ranging from 70 to 80. It is now changed to cool, cloudy, & raining. I send you an Epigram from ye Newspapers, on Marsh.
Yours affectly
W.H.F.Talbot
Question
What is the View from Peterboro’ Cathedral?
Answer
A dreary prospect, soil unkind,
A produce mean & harsh:
All this methinks and worse you’ll find
In Peterborough Marsh. –
A Monsieur
Monsieur le Capitaine Feilding
Poste Restante
Florence
Italie
Notes:
1. Probably Alicia Campbell, née Kelly, ‘Tam’ (1768–1829).
2. Carlo Andrea Pozzo di Borgo (1764–1842), Corsican nobleman who entered the Russian diplomatic service and promoted French interests after the Napoleonic Wars in the courts of the Russian emperors Alexander I and Nicholas I.
3. Battle of Cape St Vincent, 14 February 1797 and at Waterloo, 18 June 1815.
4. Nicolaas Henneman (1813–1898), Dutch, active in England; WHFT’s valet, then assistant; photographer.
5. Rev George Stephen Molyneux Montgomerie (1790–1850), artist, Norwich.
6. Charles Joseph Thrupp (d. 1866), a high quality coachbuilder on Oxford Street, London, later succeeded by his more famous son, George Athelstane Thrupp (1822–1905).
7. Thomas Kaye Bonney (1782–1863), Archdeacon of Leicester.
8. Treuttel & Wurtz, booksellers, Paris.
9. The Paris Monthly Review of British and Continental Literature (Paris: 1822–1823), and Jacques Thomas Verneur, Journal des Voyages Découvertes et Navigations modernes; ou Archives géographiques et statistiques du XIX siècle: Ouvrage périodique, rédigé par une société de géographes et voyageurs et publié (Paris: 1821–1829).
10. John Awdry (1766-1844), solicitor, Reybridge.
11. Lady Harriot Frampton, née Fox Strangways (1778 - 6 August 1844); dau of Henry Thomas Fox Strangways, 2nd Earl of Ilchester and Mary Theresa O'Grady; she married James Frampton (1769-1855) in 1799.
12. Lady Mary Lucy Cole, née Strangways, first m. Talbot (1776–1855), WHFT’s aunt.
13. Sir Christopher Cole (1770–1836), Captain, MP & naval officer.
14. Jane Harriot Nicholl, née Talbot (1796–1874).
15. Christopher Rice Mansel Talbot (1803–1890), immensely wealthy landowner, mathematician & politician; WHFT’s Welsh cousin.
16. Penrice Castle and Penrice House, Gower, Glamorgan, 10 mi SW of Swansea: home of Christopher Rice Mansel Talbot.
17. Valentine Richard Quin, 1st Earl of Dunraven and Mount-Earl (1752-1824); related to the Fox Strangways and Wyndham families. Lady Harriet Payne Gallwey (1784-1845), née Quin, wife of Lt Gen Sir William Payne Gallwey (1759-1831), 1st Bart.
18. William Thomas Horner Fox Strangways, 4th Earl of Ilchester (1795–1865), botanist, art collector & diplomat. He had just left Constantinople. [See Doc. No: 00922].