Penrice <1>
Sept 29
October 11
My dear Henry
We have been baking with the heat here this summer & I suppose you have found it equally if not more oppressive even, at Munich, indeed the thunder seems to have done very little towards cooling the air but we have had some delightful showers today which have refreshed the poor flowers very much. There is a very pretty vetch of yours in blow (called the Lathyrus nissolia but that is a mistake) we don't know its name it is a sort of crimson but there is a good bunch of flowers together at every place where it blossoms & they are striped, I have saved some seed & likewise some of the Vicia gracilis out of your box. there are 5 or 6 plants come up in your mixed seed corner, I hope they are not too tender to live over the winter there is a double Pyrethrum in blow in your box as well as in Janes. <2> The Styraxes flourish uncommonly well, Jane's little cistus guttatus has been beautiful it goes on blowing still & Tom Aire[?] who is always charmed to have any thing he remembers having formerly had, is very diligent in saving the seed. Mamma <3> has a fine row of Cistuses from some seed of William's <4> I believe. -
We have had some very pleasant people here, we got acquainted with them this summer Mrs & Miss Whitby they were last year at Naples & have sketched a great many views just like some of Jane's, Mrs Whitby sketches extremely well and has been taking a great many views of our beauties since she came here, we have been to Worm's head, Pwl dye, Culver Hole & Llanmadoc Hill <5> & besides places nearer home - We are now on the move for Bath where we have settled to remain a few weeks before we visit Dorsetshire. I hope I shall have the pleasure of seeing you in London as I shall be there in November and probably for some time after wards, I hope you intend staying in England, for some time at least pray remember to come here in the Spring if we should not return home before that. - Jane, Charlotte and Emma <6> with little Johnny <7> are at Merthyr mawr <8> now where we shall join them in a few days, I am almost jealous of Charlotte's being so much better from home, it seems as if we could not keep her from mischief and yet let her amuse herself, Jane writes word she is so much better since she went to Merthyr mawr and has lost a cold she caught on a visit at the Gnoll, <9> I am sorry to say Emma has a troublesome cough which has tormented her during the Summer every body seems to think it of no consequence however - Mamma herself has a very bad cold & cough which is a most extraordinary occurrence & we are very anxious she should go to Bath to drink the waters and get strong again. - Christopher <10> is building a new Yacht <11> which is to be much larger than the old one, of course, he writes letters and draws pictures about it almost every day, & hardly talks of any thing else; he has some trouble with his pack of hounds which he tries hard to make perfect but at present some go one way & some another & are very disobedient in general to be sure some times they do leave the poor harmless sheep alone but I don't think that happens very often, today the dogs killed three hares and devoured two before they could be prevented! - I suppose you would not see Henry Frampton <12> he went with Aunt C. <13> & Mr Lemon <14> and was to go on to Mrs Seymer's <15> at Florence I think, he would be a charming addition to their party from his great good humour and famous spirits, and I think Aunt Charlotte would miss him very much I have not heard from her since she left England but Aunt Louisa <16> heard from Paris, a Dr Brüke is their travelling Physician altogether they were a large party altho' Charley <17> was left behind at Cchool [sic] - We could not give your message about Nice to Aunt Charlotte as she had been gone some time before we received your letter - Christopher has been at Cherburg & at Guernsey He brought Mamma such a quantity of the Guernsey lilies, we have them all in full blossom now in pots, he brought a Crassula it is called the falcata I admire it very much indeed and I hope it will thrive he brought me some stones from different places which I always like very much indeed - You will be shocked perhaps in my comparing some little sand pillars on the Sands to your famous ones at Botzen <18> but I assure you we were struck by it the other day, after a high wind there were hundreds of little pyramids each crowned with a pebble or a bit of shell! the dry sand drifted past them with such violence as to make us fancy there was a storm - of rain till we looked up & then it quite cut our faces, the little pyramids remained unmoved!! -
I forgot to tell you that Christopher won 2 silver cups (that is to say the Yacht won them) one at Babbicombe and another at Plymouth which is a source of much pleasure to every one. - He has had a most handsome present from the College of Oriel as a mark of their approbation of his conduct whilst belonging to their College and likewise of the the [sic] manner in which he passed his Examination, accompanied by a most flattering letter which is still more gratifying. -
We have now got boisterous weather which will I am afraid soon strip our early trees of their leaves as well as beat down the flowers Mamma is in despair her beautiful beds of China Asters are almost spoild by the heavy rain we have had these two days but as we are going to leave them so soon it does not signify so much. Love from all here.
I am your affate coz
Mary. -
à
Monsieur
Monsieur Talbot
aux Soins de <19> Monsr Le Noble
Poste Restante
Munich
Germany
rue St Honoré No 343
Paris
Notes:
1. Penrice Castle and Penrice House, Gower, Glamorgan, 10 mi SW of Swansea: home of Christopher Rice Mansel Talbot.
2. Jane Harriot Nicholl, née Talbot (1796-1874).
3. Lady Mary Lucy Cole, née Strangways, first m. Talbot (1776-1855), WHFT's aunt.
4. William Thomas Horner Fox Strangways, 4th Earl of Ilchester (1795-1865), botanist, art collector & diplomat.
5. Promontory at the southwestern extremity of the Gower Peninsula; Pwlldu Head, at the southeastern end of Oxwich Bay; a cave near Port Eynon; Northwest Gower. On the summit are traces of an ancient camp. All these places are within 5 or 6 miles of Penrice.
6. Charlotte Louisa 'Charry' Traherne, née Talbot (1800-1880), WHFT's cousin and Emma Thomasina Llewelyn, née Talbot (1806-1881), photographer; WHFT's Welsh cousin.
7. John Cole Nicholl (b. 1823), son of Jane Harriot Nicholl, née Talbot (1796-1874).
8. Merthyr Mawr, Glamorgan, on River Ogwr.
9. Probably the Knoll. [See Doc. No: 00667].
10. Christopher Rice Mansel Talbot (1803-1890), immensely wealthy landowner, mathematician & politician; WHFT's Welsh cousin.
11. The 'Galatea'. The old one was the 'Giulia'.
12. Henry Frampton (1804-1879).
13. Lady Charlotte Anne Lemon, née Strangways (d. 1826), WHFT's aunt.
14. Sir Charles Lemon (1784-1868), politician & scientist; WHFT's uncle.
15. Lady Harriet Ker Seymer, née Beckford (1779-1853), wife of Henry Ker Seymer (1782-1834), JP, MP & Sheriff of Dorset.
16. 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.
17. Son of Lady Charlotte Anne Lemon, née Strangways (d. 1826), WHFT's aunt and Sir Charles Lemon (1784-1868), politician & scientist; WHFT's uncle.
18. Botzen is now called Bolsano, Italy; until after WWI, it was part of the Austrian Tyrol. [See Doc. No: 01155].
19. Care of.