Penrice: <1>
Sept. 17th 1815.
My Dear Mamma,
I write to you on the only sheet of letter paper I could procure, which bears "My Dear Miss" on the back of it. - I was very much pleased to receive Caroline's <2> letter with the little Geranium in it, which arrived just as I was examining the very pretty Geranium lucidum which I found in the wood, which I think you said you found last year in the North. I think this is the first letter I ever received from Caroline, & it begins in the usual stile [sic], with the affectionate enquiry of "I hope you are well." Christopher <3> returned to Harrow <4> last Sunday, & I am not sorry that he returned without me: - Davy <5> went with him, & returned yesterday. Admiral Sotheby <6> & Capt Gasgoigne of the Navy dined here on Friday; - and yesterday Mr de Cardonnel <7> & Capt Dickens came on a visit; - I don't know how long they will stay. My Uncle William <8> has been in this part of the Country lately, without coming to see us here, which everybody thinks shocking of him. -
You say you like my journalizing letters; - I am afraid I have troubled you with very few lately, - Aunt Mary <9> tells me that you are very anxious, lest I should kill myself with my gun: but you are mistaken if you suppose me as careless as my Uncle William is, where there is need of care: neither am I so shortsighted as to mistake Jem George for a hare, or partridge. However, I have as yet only been out once, with my Gun; - of which expedition I have written a full account to Mr Feilding, <10> & you know I have a great aversion to writing the same story twice; - so I will only say, that I did not get a shot, but had a long sultry walk all over the Country. I shall not go out again "yet awhile" -
I have not studied much Italian lately.
18th
It rains torrents, so I doubt much whether Mr de Cardonnel will be able to depart today.
I remain,
Yr Affte Son
W. H. F. Talbot.
Lady Elis. Feilding
31 Sackville St
London
My dear Miss <11>
Notes:
1. Penrice Castle and Penrice House, Gower, Glamorgan, 10 mi SW of Swansea: home of Christopher Rice Mansel Talbot.
2. Caroline Augusta Edgcumbe, née Feilding, Lady Mt Edgcumbe (1808-1881); WHFT's half-sister.
3. Christopher Rice Mansel Talbot (1803-1890), immensely wealthy landowner, mathematician & politician; WHFT's Welsh cousin.
4. Harrow School: WHFT attended from 1811-1815 and his son Charles from 1855-1859.
5. Certainly not Sir Humphry Davy (1778-1829); possibly a servant?
6. Probably Admiral Charles Sotheby.
7. Possibly a relative of Mary de Cardonnel (d. 1787), who married the 1st Earl Talbot, Baron Dinevor (d. 1782).
8. William Thomas Horner Fox Strangways, 4th Earl of Ilchester (1795-1865), botanist, art collector & diplomat.
9. Lady Mary Lucy Cole, née Strangways, first m. Talbot (1776-1855), WHFT's aunt.
10. Rear Admiral Charles Feilding (1780-1837), Royal Navy; WHFT's step-father.
11. Written at the back of address panel.