Tuesday
My Dearest Boy
I long for some more of your journalizing Letters they amuse me so much. I conclude you have heard from Mr Feilding <1> since he went into Yorkshire Caroline & Horatia <2> come back from Barming today, I expect to see them avec des joues de rose & le teint basané <3> talking of nothing but young Pip & Turkies Bees & Rabbits, Hops & Hives, and holding in due contempt the well bred Swans of the Serpentine River – what more adventures have you had on land or Water, or rather on foot & Poney? You have never told me anything about the new Gardens on the top of the rocks & the windy walks up the hill, Does the well hold Water & do the flowers flourish. We are going to cut down the ancient Mulberry Tree, so there’s an end of Forest scenery in Sackville Street!!! <4>
W. H. Fox Talbot
Penrice Castle
Notes:
1. Rear Admiral Charles Feilding (1780–1837), Royal Navy; WHFT’s step-father.
2. 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. With rosy cheeks and tanned complexion.
4. 31 Sackville Street, London residence of the Feildings, often used as a London base by WHFT.