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Result number 64 of 997:   < Back     Back to results list   Next >  

Document number: 565
Date: Sat 18 Apr 1812
Recipient: FEILDING Elisabeth Theresa, née Fox Strangways
Author: TALBOT William Henry Fox
Collection: British Library, London, Manuscripts - Fox Talbot Collection
Last updated: 28th January 2012

Lansdowne House <1>
Saturday
April 18. 1812 -

My dear Mamma,

I found the letter you directed to Dr Hunts, here, however I have not eat any unwholesome things, as I did not dine with them at Tyn y Caia <2>- I will now give you some account of my fellow Passengers, of whom only two are worth mentioning - the First an Etonian about sixteen or seventeen in the fifth form at Eton - After some conversation with him, he told me he had seen some of my verses written five years ago, this surprised me as I had not the least conception who he could be he told me Mr Dark had shewn them to him They were that Lions Feast we began at Stinsford <3> about the little white rabbit with coquelicot eyes - He talked to me familiarly about Christopher <4> he is to send me a list of Eton School. The next passenger worth noticing is an American who was recently captured in by a French privateer, but being neutral was liberated, and reimbursed for the loss of his ship which was burnt - He had seen Buonaparte, <5> he shewed his French coins of different sizes and value - a large gold one worth 33s or 50 Franks a Frank is worth 10 pence - a large silver coin of 5 Franks &c &c - I forgot to tell you that on a trunk was the name "Mr Mansel Passenger" which is a very suitable name for the Etonian - Tell Mr F <6> that out of the Six pounds - one pound three remained - But Captain Cole <7> gave me two pound three which I did not discover till I was in the coach - I want to know whether it was a present or a mistake - I have seen Betty <8> who is at Burlington Street she is much better, but Mr Forbes does not continue to see her regularly because she told me "She did not wish to put you to unnecessary expence." Tell Aunt Mary <9> that if Mr Selwyn <10> had not been at Melbury <11> I could not have called upon him for I came to Gloucester at 11 at night and Set off again at 5 in the morning - Tell her I have seen a species of Foreign Arum in [text missing] <12> bloom in Aunt Louisa's <13> drawing room It is a greenhouse not a hothouse plant. Its cylindrical blossom is of a beautiful orange colour covered wth delicate white farina - It has only one blossom - There is also a beautiful Rhododendron with upwards of an hundred blossoms on it - also Cineraria which I send you [illustration] - something Japonica - Red and Veined Geraniums - Two sorts of white Heath - Several other plants whose names I don't know; all which I send you - Also Red and White Stocks, Wallflowers, Pinks, Mignionette, Roses, Jonquils, Geraniums, Lily of the Valley and a Sort of Red Vetches in water which I do not send you - I set off for Harrow <14> to day at four oclock - Lord Wickham looks very pretty - Give my love to Mr F. Aunt Mary and my cousins -

Your Affte Son
W.H.F. Talbot

Yew Trees

[illustration] good Taste - N. B.

a peacock at top

London, <15> April eighteen Mr C Lemon <16>
The Lady Elisabeth Feilding
Penrice Castle
Swansea


Notes:

1. Lansdowne House, London: home of the Marquis of Lansdowne, WHFT's uncle and cousins.

2. Tyn-y-caia (or Ty'n-y-caeau) was in Neath, West Glamorgan, where the Traherne family owned property. WHFT was visiting his favourite cousin, Charlotte Louisa 'Charry' Traherne, née Talbot (1800-1880).

3. Stinsford, Dorsetshire, 2 mi E of Dorcester.

4. Christopher Rice Mansel Talbot (1803-1890), immensely wealthy landowner, mathematician & politician; WHFT's Welsh cousin.

5. Napoleon I, Emperor of France (1804-1814/1815).

6. Rear Admiral Charles Feilding (1780-1837), Royal Navy; WHFT's step-father.

7. Sir Christopher Cole (1770-1836), Captain, MP & naval officer.

8. Elizabeth Vickery ‘Betty’, WHFT’s governess. When she died in autumn 1835, WHFT paid to have a gravestone placed at Cutcombe, Somerset, inscribed: 'Erected to the Memory of Elizbth Vickery his kind & faithful nurse by Henry Fox Talbot of Lacock Abbey in the country of Wilts Esqre'; the stone's inscription is still readable - See Doc. No: 03205.

9. Lady Mary Lucy Cole, née Strangways, first m. Talbot (1776-1855), WHFT's aunt.

10. Rev Townshend Selwyn (1783-1853), botanist & Canon of Gloucester.

11. Melbury, Dorset: one of the Fox Strangways family homes; WHFT was born there.

12. Text torn away under seal.

13. Louisa Emma Petty Fitzmaurice, née Fox Strangways, Marchioness of Lansdowne (1785-1851), wife of Henry Petty Fitzmaurice, 3rd Marquess of Lansdowne; Lady of the Bedchamber to Queen Victoria, 1837-1838; WHFT's aunt.

14. Harrow School: WHFT attended from 1811-1815 and his son Charles from 1855-1859.

15. Address panel written in another hand.

16. Sir Charles Lemon (1784-1868), politician & scientist; WHFT's uncle.

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