6th July
My Dear Henry
I am sorry Mary <1> has not answered you, but am not surprised, for it is her way & a very inconvenient way for her friends, particularly if you go by Steam’s from Bristol which like Time & Tide will wait for no Man. I have had Leighton here to look at your Palmarum, <2> and he says the binding will not come to more than eighteen Shillings, so I strongly advise you having them done, as the dust is already engrained on the Margins, & they are too good to be left to the tender mercies of a London housemaid & another damp winter, too many such have already passed over the heads of their poor Palm Trees. Let me know by return of post I shall go to day to inquire why the Marble man did not go down as promised. It seems the Weather has been much better with you, I am sorry the Foreigners should see it so bad here. Caroline & Ld V. <3> came back from Richmond last night. Bimbo <4> is left there. Dr Chambers is to determine to day when he is to go to Buxton. I found the enclosed receipt laying about after you were gone – you had better keep it
Notes:
1. Lady Mary Lucy Cole, née Strangways, first m. Talbot (1776–1855), WHFT’s aunt.
2. She probably means ‘palmarium’, that is, masterpiece.
3. Caroline Augusta Edgcumbe, née Feilding, Lady Mt Edgcumbe (1808–1881); WHFT’s half-sister, and Ernest Augustus Edgcumbe, Lord Valletort, 3rd Earl of Mt Edgcumbe (1797–1861), WHFT’s brother-in-law.
4. William Henry Edgcumbe, ‘Val’, 4th Earl Mt Edgcumbe (1832–1917), JP & Ld Steward of the Royal Household; WHFT’s nephew ‘Bimbo’.