Penrice <1>
Sept. 13th 1824
My dear Henry,
I must allow that I am a most miserably bad correspondant [sic] & I dare say you think me a very ungrateful creature for never having taken the least notice of your kind letters but the fact is as I have heard so constantly of you from your letters to different members of the family I have not felt the necessity of writing to know something abt you. We have had a most dreadfull [sic] thunderstorm in the County fortunately we had only a very slight portion of it here but at Margam <2> the Wall beyond the Church was thrown down & the whole garden covered by mud, gravel & stones, the Cottage was two or three feet deep in Water & the Cellars completely filled, Pyle Bridge was broken & Walls & Cottages all the way along the road knocked down – a stack of oats was carried from Kenfig into Swansea Bay quite whole & recovered again in Boats but I cannot say I should think it was fit to sell in the Market or else the conveyance was as cheap as could well be! The poor Farmers all abt Margam have suffered very much & some are nearly ruined who lived on the side of the Mountain. Kit <3> came Home two days ago from Cherbourg where in [sic] went in company with Twenty Yatchs [sic] from Cowes he was very much pleased with the excursion but had some bad weather in returning he had visited Guernsey a little while before, he brought a fine lot of lilies & some other roots of that kind besides. He has not begun his new Vessell yet but will very soon I believe at present we are all imagining a name for her but none has yet been fixed on. You would be delighted to visit Mama’s <4> Garden now to see how all our seeds are flourishing. I am particularly pleased with the little Styrax’s that are amongst yours – I cannot tell you much about any of them unless I was to take a pencil & paper to mark down those that are come up & which I fancy has already been done for you – there is a remarkably pretty Asclepias in flower witht a name it is about a foot high & has a very full bunch of French Gray flowers on the end of each stalk. Next year I expect to see a great many pretty things for they are hardly old enough to flower this. Aunt C. & Mr L. <5> are to set off finally from London tomorrow for Nice & I must say I most sincerely wish I was going too. I am sure you will be surprized to hear that Henry Frampton <6> is to go with them & after spending a short time with them is to go to Florence to live with Mr & Mrs Seymer <7> which will be a great advantage to them & Aunt H’s <8> heart will be quite at rest about him – I cannot but say I feel rather sorry he shd have Cambridge [sic] but as he was not likely to distinguish himself perhaps he will not miss it in any other way. I cannot conceive your remaining in sight of the Mountains of the Tyrol witht paying them a visit but I dare say you have by this time. We were so unlucky as to see nothing at Munich excepting the Library which delighted me extremely & I stayed there all day with a very pleasant well-informed little professor – The gallery was shut up owing to a new arrangement of the pictures which was to take place & similar accidents prevented our seeing the other collections so that Munich is rather a sore subject with us. I cannot agree with you in admiring the Jardin Anglais so particularly as you appear to do tho’ I think it the finest thing of the sort I saw abroad. I cannot think it is to compare to Hyde Park or Kensington Gardens for scenery – My little darling <9> is perfectly well he began to walk alone on the day he was a year old & his first tooth appeared the week after – We shall be in town the 1st week [illegible deletion] novr when I hope we shall soon see you. The rest of the Party from here are going immediately first to Bath for Mama to drink the Waters & then on into Dorsetshire Charlotte <10> is considerably better indeed I was completely surprized by the change I found in her – Emma <11> is better but I think the amusement of her cousins in Dorset will quite cure her for that is what she appears to want I th[ink] <12> – Kind love to Car & Hor <13> – [as?] Aunt Lily <14> pray tell her I will write to her very soon
yours affy
Jane H. Nicholl
A Monr
Monsieur W.H Talbot
Poste Restante
à Munchen
Bavaria
Notes:
1. Penrice Castle and Penrice House, Gower, Glamorgan, 10 mi SW of Swansea: home of Christopher Rice Mansel Talbot.
2. Margam Park, Glamorgan: home of Christopher Rice Mansel Talbot.
3. Christopher Rice Mansel Talbot (1803–1890), immensely wealthy landowner, mathematician & politician; WHFT’s Welsh cousin.
4. Lady Mary Lucy Cole, née Strangways, first m. Talbot (1776–1855), WHFT’s aunt.
5. Lady Charlotte Anne Lemon, née Strangways (d. 1826), WHFT’s aunt, and Sir Charles Lemon (1784–1868), politician & scientist; WHFT’s uncle.
6. Henry Frampton (1804-1879).
7. Henry Ker Seymer (1807–1864), JP, MP & Sheriff of Dorset; and his wife, Lady Harriet Ker Seymer, née Beckford (1779-1853).
8. Lady Harriot Frampton, née Fox Strangways (1778 - 6 Aug 1844); dau of Henry Thomas Fox Strangways, 2nd Earl of Ilchester and Mary Theresa O'Grady; she married James Frampton (1769-1855) in 1799.
9. John Cole Nicholl (b. 1823), son of Jane Harriet Nicholl.
10. Charlotte Louisa 'Charry' Traherne, née Talbot (1800–1880), WHFT’s cousin.
11. Emma Thomasina Llewelyn, née Talbot (1806–1881), photographer; WHFT’s Welsh cousin.
12. Text torn away under seal.
13. 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.
14. Lady Elisabeth Theresa Feilding, née Fox Strangways, first m Talbot (1773–1846), WHFT’s mother.