Penrice <1>
Decr 30
My dear Henry
I am sorry my last letter to you should have taken such a long time in going to Rome. I hope this will be wiser & take the shortest way. – I am sorry to say we have a sick house, both Isabella & Emma <2> have the whooping cough the latter has had it the longest & we flatter ourselves it is going away now but Isabella is very poorly still, her spirits are very good which is a great thing & her appetite does not fail at all. Charlotte <3> too has been & still is poorly; the weather is cold & she is not able to ride out so much as she ought to do, but I hope the spring will revive her. – Christopher <4> intends writing to you but I know his intentions are in general a long time, before they become good for any thing so I would not depend upon him. – We were very much amused by the letter you transcribed in your letter to me, it is a beautiful specimen of English & I have no doubt was intended for a most polite & flattering letter! – We have had no snow as yet but there was ice & we have filled our icehouse. there have been dreadful storms, great mischief has been been [sic] done at sea & the newspapers were filled with accidents occasioned by the storms at Liverpool Manchester & several other places, many lives were lost owing to houses falling in & chimney stacks breaking through the roofs & then thro’ floors. some people were extricated from amongst the ruins, only hurt in a trifling degree & others not at all the worse numbers of people in Manchester (I think) applied for leave to sleep in the jail lest their own houses should fall in the night fortunately we have been exempted from any of these dreadful afflictions & indeed in this neighbourhood I have not heard of any mischief from the storms. –
The last accounts we had from Ireland Giles <5> was not actually moved from Castle Coole but he was going to set out the day after Christmas day. I hope he will have fine weather when he crosses to England. Uncle Harry <6> has got a famous Spring bed carriage for him to travel in & as he can wheel himself about in a Meslins chair I hope the motion of travelling will not be found too much for him. How provoking it must be not to get letters regularly, I think our letters are longer going than those we receive are in coming tho’ that is long enough. they take nearly 3 weeks from Florence! – Pray when you write next say how Horatia <7> is & give our love to both of them, how happy we should be to see them here again. – The little Primula <8> goes on very well & we are in hopes this spring to see the double anemonies &cc you gave Mamma, <9> blossom we have never been here since you sent them, when they were in blow! Our best flower now is the Calycanthus for it is a shrub that blows out of doors here [on?]<10> a wall, it is delightful – I have just had a letter from Jane, <11> I conclude she is at Rome by this time where I hope you will make the most of her, it was very unlucky she was at Florence after you had left it. – I have been interrupted so often that I am afraid this letter will be a odd mess but I have not time to write another, you shall hear again from me soon. – Sir Humphrey [sic] Davy has been here, he is a very entertaining person I think, Mr Dillwyn brought him here, Mr John Traherne came likewise & we have been exploring some caves, in one there were quantities of bones some perfect & some in a mutilated state, quantities of ivory & some teeth of different animals one decidedly an elephant’s grinder,<12> I suppose you heard of Mr Buckland’s <13> Kirkdale cave when you were in England. we hope ours will prove as curious – I wish you had seen the Eruption of Mt Vesuvius it must have been a magnificent sight & provided one is in a safe place I should think it a beautiful tho’ an awful thing to observe. –
Wishing you all a happy new year & many of them,
I am your affate coz
Mary
A Monsieur
Monsieur Talbot
Palazzo Ceva
Roma
Italy
Jany 2d
Notes:
1. Penrice Castle and Penrice House, Gower, Glamorgan, 10 mi SW of Swansea: home of Christopher Rice Mansel Talbot.
2. Isabella Catherine Franklen, née Talbot (1804–1874), and Emma Thomasina Llewelyn, née Talbot (1806–1881), photographer; WHFT’s Welsh cousin.
3. Charlotte Louisa 'Charry' Traherne, née Talbot (1800–1880), WHFT’s cousin.
4. Christopher Rice Mansel Talbot (1803–1890), immensely wealthy landowner, mathematician & politician; WHFT’s Welsh cousin.
5. Giles Digby Robert Fox Strangways (1798–1827). [See Doc. No: 01132].
6. Henry Stephen Fox Strangways, 3rd Earl of Ilchester (1787–1858).
7. Henrietta Horatia Maria Gaisford, née Feilding (1810–1851), WHFT’s half-sister.
8. See Doc. No: 00989.
9. Lady Mary Lucy Cole, née Strangways, first m. Talbot (1776–1855), WHFT’s aunt.
10. Text torn away under seal.
11. Jane Harriot Nicholl, née Talbot (1796–1874). She did not intend on reaching Rome before 16 January 1823. [See Doc. No: 01034].
12. Sir Humphry Davy (1778–1829), chemist; Lewis Weston Dillwyn (1778–1855), Welsh botanist & MP; Rev John Montgomerie Traherne (1788–1860), JP & author. This was Paviland Cave, Gower, South Wales, originally known as Goat's Cave, Paviland. Dillwyn recorded the visit in his contemporaneous diary: 'Friday 27 Dec. John Traherne, Miss Talbot & I spent most of the Day at a Cavern which has been discovered on the Coast about 6 miles W. of Penrice, & we found the Bones of Elephants & etc. Saturday 28 Dec. Miss Talbot & I went again to the Cavern & brought away a great quantity of Bones - Sir H. Davy & Jo Traherne left us & in the afternoon I returned home'.
13. William Buckland (1784–1856), Dean of Westminster & scientist. His description of remains found in the Kirkdale cave were published in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, 1822.
14. Sir Christopher Cole (1770–1836), Captain, MP & naval officer.
15. Rear Admiral Charles Feilding (1780–1837), Royal Navy; WHFT’s step-father.