March
1824

My dear Henry

Charlotte ^<1> wrote to you a few days ago so I put off writing that her letter might go first. I hope she sent all our thanks for your kind presents. I hope you do not intend staying abroad long enough to make them really “souvenirs”! – We have been much amused with the Pilot ^<2> the naval parts are very interesting but we some times want Sir Christopher ^<3> to explain a Nautical phrase here and there, I think the ladies are not drawn with much elegance but they are Americans so I attribute all their defects to that! – Emma ^<4> desires me to say how much obliged she is to you for the books you sent her the comical fairy tale (if it may be called one) of Peter Schlemmil ^<5> diverted us extremely but it seemed a crazy story to us at first. I am afraid few people know how valuable such a sort of shadow is! the picture of M^r Tho^s Jones quite terrified us & Miss Traherne ^<6> said it disturbed her rest if she thought of it I hope he was not a Welshman tho’ his name was Jones! Emma says she will write to you herself some day. – Jane ^<7> comes next week she is at Merthyr Mawr ^<8> now but as M^r Nicholl ^<9> has his troop out for some days she cannot leave him there quite alone. Johnny ^<10> is quite well. I hope he will not take any dislike to his Auntys because they are strangers to him I shall not have a very good opinion of his wisdom if he cries at us. – Christopher ^<11> is at Melbury ^<12> now & I hear he looks quite fat & well. I have actually had two letters from him since he left home [which]^<13> was about six weeks ago, of course. I did let him wait for an answer. – The last accounts from Torquay were tolerable, Aunt Harriot ^<14> and her daughters ^<15> have been paying them a visit & Aunt C. ^<16> &c are to go very soon to Moreton ^<17>, Charley ^<18> is to meet them there. this news I had from M^rs Campbell. ^<19>

Your Pyrenean primula ^<20> is in blossom & the delight of our eyes, it will be very handsome indeed soon for every plant has large bunches of buds, I really flatter myself it is satisfied that Penrice ^<21> is the second best place in the world, more it would be unreasonable to expect, don’t you think so! The iris roots you gave Mamma ^<22> are all come up but I do not think they will blossom this year however, they look tolerably strong but too small. – Jane’s spider orchis has been in blossom for some time it is very pretty I think, she is coming here next week & she will see it herself I hope but its last blossom has been open some time now. They would not have put off coming here so long, but M^r Nicholl’s cousin M^r Jenner of Wenvoe ^<23> is dead & he is going to the funeral. – When Miss Traherne was here we went to Paviland ^<24> with her, it turned out a miserable day we were all wet through & completely tired tho’ we went the shortest way of all however we found a great many bones & some teeth one is evidently that of a Rhinoscerus & part of an Elephants grinder too but in bad condition none of the party caught cold so I think we had no reason to complain of our expedition. We have been very busy making a rock work up at our new gardens it is really very pretty which is because Mamma superintended it entirely, I have planted the Draba aizoides on it that came from Paviland the first time we went there do you remember? Charlotte has been well enough to work in her garden & do a great deal in the course of the day without being very much fatigued at night but she has had some severe head achs [sic] again lately & a touch of tooth ache too, however as the Spring weather seems to do her good I hope she will get strong before Summer & be better able to bear the heat of it. – Sir Christopher has had a present of a number of things from the North Pole ^<25>, one of ^<26> most curious, I think is a bag made out of the feet of Ducks, skinned, & sewed together, another thing is a pair of spectacles of the Esquimaux which they wear to prevent the bright light in Summer from hurting their sight it is a wooden thing that fits over one’s nose & has two slits only to look thro’ however we can see very well with them, there is a complete Man’s dress partly made of Deers skin & some parts white bear the boots are seal skin & the gloves thick fur on the backs of the hands & thin in the inside so one’s hands are not utterly useless as they usually are (if really thick) in our country. there are likewise several curious sorts of spears some for killing birds & others for fishing, a bow & arrows a horn of the sea unicorn ^<27> a white fox several sorts of Ducks and gulls besides other smaller birds and a mouse, these with a small collection of dried plants (which are evidently much pinched in their growth) a box of specimens of the different kinds of stones, a Canoe and a doll make a fine shew & I think Sir C. ought to have a museum on purpose to arrange them all properly! he had likewise a present of some of the preserved meat & of each sort of soup they carried out for stores in the Ships, Mamma gave D^r Edwards ^<28> one case & he told her he had it for dinner, it was very good indeed, tasted quite fresh & he knew it was veal. the cases are soldered up quite close & I believe their contents should not be kept long before they are used when once the tin case is opened. D^r E. said the meat has been half cooked before it was put into the Case What a sad thing it is to think how much meat &c came home which poor Cap^t Franklin ^<29> would have been glad of! – All send their kind love to all.

I am your aff^ate coz
Mary

à Monsieur
Monsieur Talbot
Poste Restante
Genoa
Italy

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Notes:

1. Charlotte Louisa 'Charry' Traherne, née Talbot (1800–1880), WHFT’s cousin.

2. James Fenimore Cooper (1789–1851), The Pilot: a Tale of the Sea (New York: Wiley, 1823; London: John Miller, 1824).

3. Sir Christopher Cole (1770–1836), Captain, MP & naval officer.

4. Emma Thomasina Llewelyn, née Talbot (1806–1881), photographer; WHFT’s Welsh cousin.

5. Adelbert von Chamisso (1781–1838), Friedrich Heinrich Karl La Motte-Fouqué, George Cruikshank and others, Peter Schlemihl: The Man who sold his Shadow (London: Whittaker, 1824).

6. Charlotte Frances Traherne (d. 1852), eldest sister of Rev John Montgomerie Traherne (1788–1860), JP & author.

7. Jane Harriot Nicholl, née Talbot (1796–1874).

8. Merthyr Mawr, Glamorgan, on River Ogwr.

9. Dr John Nicholl (1797–1853), MP.

10. John Cole Nicholl (b. 1823), eldest son of Jane Harriet Nicholl and John Nicholl.

11. Christopher Rice Mansel Talbot (1803–1890), immensely wealthy landowner, mathematician & politician; WHFT’s Welsh cousin.

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

13. Page torn out.

14. Lady Harriet Frampton, née Fox Strangways (d. 1844) .

15. Harriot Georgiana Mundy, née Frampton (1806-1886), WHFT’s cousin & sister-in-law; and Louisa Charlotte Frampton.

16. Lady Charlotte Anne Lemon, née Strangways (d. 1826), WHFT’s aunt.

17. Moreton, Dorset: home of the Frampton family.

18. Charles Lemon, son of Sir Charles Lemon (1784–1868), politician & scientist; WHFT’s uncle and Lady Charlotte Anne Lemon, née Strangways (d. 1826), WHFT’s aunt.

19. Alicia Campbell, née Kelly, ‘Tam’ (1768–1829).

20. See Doc. No: 00989.

21. Penrice Castle and Penrice House, Gower, Glamorgan, 10 mi SW of Swansea: home of Christopher Rice Mansel Talbot.

22. Lady Mary Lucy Cole, née Strangways, first m. Talbot (1776–1855), WHFT’s aunt.

23. Grandson of John Nicholl’s grandfather Peter Birt of Wenvoe Castle.

24. Paviland cave in the limestone coastal cliffs of the Gower Peninsula, near Penrice, in which bones of various extinct animals were discovered by William Buckland (1784–1856), Dean of Westminster & scientist in 1823.

25. See Doc. No: 01178. Probably from William Edward Parry’s (1790–1855) second Arctic expedition, which set out in May 1821 and returned to Deptford in November 1823.

26. Page torn out.

27. The narwhal.

28. See Doc. No: 01167.

29. Sir John Franklin (1786–1847), Arctic explorer. His expedition (1819–1822) had been particularly difficult.