Sackville Street <1>
June 18th 1826 –
My dear Henry
It is very good of me to write to you so soon, though I have not yet received an answer to a letter I wrote a month ago, nor indeed have you written a word to me, since the 31st of March. Horatia received your last one the 9th June, <2> & has answered it. However as I must not be revengeful at this distance, I will tell you what we have been doing lately. Yesterday we went to St John’s Wood to see, what I know interests you more than any thing, a balloon go off. The operation of filling it was very slowly performed, as they managed it themselves without the help of the Gas–company, & though we arrived late in the afternoon, & it had been begun the preceeding evening, we were obliged to wait three hours before it was ready to set off, broiling in the sun all the time & inhaling the fumes of the vitriol, which were intolerable. A very small balloon only twice the size of yours was first let off, being purposely half filled with gas, which gave it a rotatory motion; it was in this shape [illustration] – When every thing was ready, Mr Cornillon [sic],<3> a Frenchman, master of the balloon, got into the car accompanied by Mr Jolliffe,<4> an english amateur, who had once a very bad fall in descending from one of his aërial expeditions. This, it seems, has not deterred him; they both looked very happy, waving their white flags as they rose majestically over our heads, in return for the universal cheer with which they were greeted by the admiring spectators. They were wafted by a gentle breeze over London, & in 5 minutes we lost sight of them in a cloud; they soon re-appeared above it however, but as they ascended very quick, they were at last enveloped entirely, & we lost sight of them altogether. –
Mr Martius <5> has been here these 3 weeks; he dined with us the other day & afterwards took a drive to Kensington Gardens & Primrose Hill <6> where we had a very good view of London without much smoke for once. He desired me to tell you how sorry he was not to find you here, & that he had brought you some dried flowers & a “Monographie der Amerikanischen Oxalis-Arten, von Dr Zuccharini, mit 6 Steindrücken”. <7> Mr Fraunhofer <8> has also sent you a “Theorie der Höfe, Nebensonnen und verwandter Phänomene, mit Versuchen zur Bestätigung derselben”, by himself.<9> We were all very sorry to hear that poor Mr Fraunhofer is very ill, & that the air of Italy is considered <10> as the only means by which he can possibly recover; he made himself much worse by working in his glass manufactory for 36 hours without taking any rest. When Dr Martius was on his way to England he received also the news of the death of his friend Dr Spix <11> who travelled with him in the Brazils; this had nearly determined him to put off his visit to England, & will at all events shorten it. – Mama <12> desires me to say she is waiting to hear from you before she writes; et à présent que je t’ai écrit une si longue letter je serai extrêmement piquée si tu ne me réponds bien vite. <13>
Addio, mon bon petit Henri, crois-moi toujours ta s œur affectionée <14>
Caroline Augusta Feilding
Addio ancora <23>
Monsieur
Monsieur W. H. F. Talbot
aux soins de [illegible] M Strangways
Chargé d’affaires de la R. Brittanique
Florence
Basle
Svizzera
Italien
Notes:
1. 31 Sackville Street, London residence of the Feildings, often used as a London base by WHFT
2. Henrietta Horatia Maria Gaisford, née Feilding (1810–1851), WHFT’s half-sister. Her letter has not been located.
3. The ascent over St. John's Wood, London, was made by Mssr. P. Cornillot, styled a 'Philosophical Professor of Aerostation', to provide charitable funds for the Relief of Distressed Manufacturers. Within ten minutes, his balloon disappeared into the clouds over Westminster. The 55 minute flight ended with a successful landing in the village of Sundridge, near Seven Oaks.
4. Rev. Thomas Robert Jolliffe, (1780-15 June 1872), author and traveller, of Ammerdown Park, Somersetshire, near Bath: 'a Gentleman distinguished for scientific research.' He had flown with Mssr. Cornillot before. His account of this journal was related in a letter to the editor of The Morning Chronicle, summarised in their 20 June 1826 edition. Jolliffe earlier had published his Letters from Palestine, Description of a Tour through Galilee and Judea, with Some Account of the Dead Sea, and of the Actual State of Jerusalem (London: James Black, 1819) - later editions mentioned his ballooning experiences. He later became a JP and succeeded to Ammerdown Park when his older brother Charles was cut down at Waterloo in 1854.
5. Dr Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius (1794–1868), German botanist.
6. London.
7. Dr Joseph Gerhard Zuccarini (1797–1848), German botanist, Monographie der amerikanischen Oxalis-Arten (Munich: I. E. von Seidel, 1825).
8. Joseph von Fraunhofer (1787–1826), optician, Munich; he died in Munich by the time this letter was written (on 7 June).
9. Joseph von Fraunhofer, Theorie der Höfe, Nebensonnen und verwandter Phänomene, mit Versuchen zur Bestätigung derselben (Munich: 1825). Talbot bound this with a copy of Bestimmung des Brechungs- und Farbenzrestreuungs- Vermögens verschiedener Glasarten into a volume and tipped in a manuscript note: “Herrn H.F. Talbot von Verfasser” [by the author]; a note was added in another hand: “Autograph of Fraunhofer.” Private collection, FT10473.
10. Text torn away under seal.
11. Johann Baptist von Spix (1781–1826), zoologist; he and Carl Friedrich von Martius had collected botanical and zoological specimens in Brazil. After Spix’s death, Martius edited several works on his Brazilian zoological collections.
12. Lady Elisabeth Theresa Feilding, née Fox Strangways, first m Talbot (1773–1846), WHFT’s mother.
13. And now that I have written you such a long letter I shall be extremely vexed if you do not reply very quickly.
14. Goodbye, my good little Henry, believe me always your affectionate sister.
15. Misspelling for Sir Richard Hussey Vivian (1775–1842), politician; formerly professed himself a Whig, but understood to be in favour of the ballot. Sat for Windsor, 1826–1831, Truro, 1820–1826 and 1832–1835, and for Cornwall East, 1837 until his retirement in 1841.
16. Misspelling for Edward William Wynne Pendarves (b. ca. 1774–1853), MP; assumed the additional surname of Wynne by Sign Manual in 1815. He was of Whig principles, formerly voting against the abolition of the Corn Laws, but in 1846 supported their repeal. Sat for Cornwall from 1826 and for Cornwall West from 1832 until his death.
17. Sir John Cam Hobhouse (1786–1869), MP; created Baron Broughton, 1851. He was, in his early political career, prominently active in the cause of Reform which landed him in jail in 1819. Following the death of King George III and his subseqent release, he successfuly contested Westminster, 1820, and by 1832 was Secretary–at–War and Secretary for Ireland. He was also the President of the Board of Control, 1835–1841, and sat for Nottingham from 1835 until the general election of 1847. Sat for Harwich, 1848–1851, when he was created Baron.
18. Sir Francis Burdett (1770–1844), MP; prominent advocate of Reform and a strong supporter of the Whig government in his early political life. Sat for Westminster, 1832, again in 1835 and later in 1837, this time as a Conservative. Sat for Wiltshire North in 1837 until death.
19. William Thompson (1793–1854), Conservative MP, Lord Mayor for London, 1828–1829; sat for Collington, 1820–1826, for London, 1826–1832, for Sunderland, 1833–1841 and for Westmoreland from 1841 until death; Robert Waithman (d. 1833), MP; a Whig, returned for the City of London in 1832 until death; Probably Sir Matthew Wood (d. 1843), MP, Lord Mayor of London, 1815–1817; a radical Reformer, representing the city of London in 5 successful Parliaments before 1832 and continuously from that year until his death.
20. Nicholson Calvert, MP, of Whig principles; sat for Hertford in the Parliament of 1818 and was elected for Hertfordshire, 1826, until his retirement in 1835; Sir Robert Thomas Wilson (1777–1849), MP, general and governor of Gibraltar, 1842; elected for Southwark constituency, 1818, 1820, 1826, and 1830, resigning in 1831 over the introduction of the Reform Bill, regarding it as ‘the initiatory measure of a republican form of government’.
21. John Nicholas Fazakerley (1787-1852), MP of Whig principles; sat for Great Grimsby , 1809, Lincoln, 1812–1818, Great Grimsby, 1818–1820, Tavistock, 1820, Lincoln, 1826–1830 and for Peterborough from 1830 until his retirement in 1841.
22. Lord John Russell (1792–1878), whig MP and statesman; sat for Tavistock, 1813–1817 & 1818–1819, Huntingdonshire, 1820–1826, Bandon Bridge, 1826–1830, Devon, 1831, Devon South, 1832–1835 and for Stroud, 1835–1841. He was Prime Minister from 1846 to 1852 and again from 1865 to 1866, when he retired from official life.
23. Goodbye again.