Cambridge <1>
Thursday April 20th 1820
I arrived here Monday Evening, just in time to keep my term. I was detained a day at Dover, from having to pay duty on my books. I took a walk along the top of the cliffs as far as St Margaret’s Bay, and returned to Dover along the beach. In one place I found cabbages growing wild in great profusion, down the inaccessible side of the cliff, and along the ground at its foot, where the cottagers of St Margarets had turned out their cows to eat [illegible deletion] them. I never saw them in a wild state anywhere else, they look very meagre & different from the cultivated plant. A little nearer Dover, the cabbages were replaced by wild wallflowers all in blossom, single of course, & smelling very sweet. I found also the yellow horned poppy but not in blossom, & the sea buckthorn which is very scarce in England. The cliffs at Dover all contain flints imbedded in horizontal strata which looks very curious, thus: [illustration] In one place where a vast quantity has tumbled down upon the beach, one great lump has rolled within reach of the waves which by continually washing round it, have reduced it to a stem supporting an immense bulb of chalk, which I think must soon break down. It was a clear day, & from the top of the cliffs I could plainly see the church at Calais without the help of my operaglass – as well as Buonaparte’s <2> tower near Boulogne, but the town of Boulogne was not to be seen.
When I got to Town I found Ld Ilchester <3> just setting off for Oxford in order to meet Kit <4> and set him a going on his academical career. I though I could not do better than go too, having some time left to spare. I had very pleasant drives both down to Oxford, & across the country to Cambridge. At Oxford I found Giles <5> who was also come there for a “Lark”, & we spent two days very pleasantly & were well feasted by Mr Berens <6> who is the most goodnatured fellow alive. I met a great number of my Harrow <7> friends, we were so glad to see each other, not having met for near five years.
The Lansdownes <8> were out of town, gone to Cashiobury [sic]. I have enquired of Digby <9> who is a great friend of mine, & a great traveller, what he thinks of the country about the Rhine. He says the pretty part of the river is from Bonn to Mayence that south of Mayence the pretty country leaves the river. I asked him, if he were to recommend one place in particular, which would he choose? He said, Heidelberg: as being in a delightful country, & very near Frankfort which is the center [sic] of all gaiety in that part of the world.
Pray tell me what you think of it, which I hope may be favorable, & believe me
Your Affte Son
W. H. F. Talbot
À Miladi Elisabeth Feilding
Rue de Clichy
No 17
Paris
Notes:
1. Trinity College, Cambridge.
2. Napoleon I, Emperor of France (1804–1814/15).
3. Henry Stephen Fox Strangways, 3rd Earl of Ilchester (1787–1858).
4. Christopher Rice Mansel Talbot (1803–1890), immensely wealthy landowner, mathematician & politician; WHFT’s Welsh cousin.
5. Giles Digby Robert Fox Strangways (1798–1827).
6. Richard Berens, DCL (1782-1849), Fellow and Bursar of All Souls College, Oxford.
7. Harrow School: WHFT attended from 1811–1815 and his son Charles from 1855-1859.
8. Henry Petty Fitzmaurice, 3rd Marquess of Lansdowne (1780–1863), MP, WHFT’s uncle; and his wife, Louisa Emma Petty Fitzmaurice, née Fox Strangways, Marchioness of Lansdowne (1785-1851), Lady of the Bedchamber to Queen Victoria, 1837-1838; WHFT's aunt.
9. Rev William Digby (1777-1848), later Dean of Durham. [see Doc. No: 01539].