M^t Edgcumbe ^<1>
Friday May 15^th 1840 –

My dear Henry

I should be very much pleased to have the loan of your own Arabian nights ^<2> for Valletors ^<3> – There is a handsome edition here with points, but quite altered in many respects from the original stories I remember in my youth.– We have not yet begun to think of sending him anywhere, but I should like at any rate to hear a little more ab^t y^r friend & where he lives – & particularly if he is married & has a nice wife, w^h is essential for little Boys – I had thought of M^r Foster’s ^<4> near Abbotsbury ^<5> – but I find he only has a very few much older Boys – M^r Condy ^<6> was much gratified by your offer of some Photographs, & will accept with many thanks any you may please to send him – He has made attempts himself – If you send any it had better be thro’ me – he lives close by, at Plymouth, & is continually coming over here.– We took Uncles W^m & John ^<7> to Cotehele, ^<8> for one day & night – They were charmed – We are just now in great beauty – The woods are looking lovely – narcissus poetiens, lilies of the valley, pink & white may, lilacs, laburnams, boules de neige, rhododendrons & azaleas in fine bloom – & splendid cactus of various sorts in the greenhouse – on the 2^nd May the Eceremocarpus on my Pergola was in blow.– I hope Mamma ^<9> is careful of herself – pray try & instil a little prudence into her, if possible –

Y^rs aff^ly
Caroline

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Notes:

1. Mt Edgecumbe, near Plymouth: seat of the Earl of Mt Edgcumbe.

2. The Thousand and One Nights or The Arabian Nights. A collection of Arabian, Indian and Persian folk tales, first appearing in Arabic form around the 9^th Century.

3. William Henry Edgcumbe, ‘Val’, 4^th Earl Mt Edgcumbe (1832–1917), JP & Ld Steward of the Royal Household; WHFT’s nephew ‘Bimbo’.

4. Probably Peter Le Neve Foster (1809–1879), photographer & microscopist.

5. Abbotsbury, Dorset: home of William Thomas Horner Fox Strangways.

6. Nicholas Condy (1793–1857), artist. [See Doc. No: 04094].

7. William Thomas Horner Fox Strangways, 4^th Earl of Ilchester (1795–1865), botanist, art collector & diplomat, and John George Charles Fox Strangways (1803–1859), MP.

8. Cotehele, Cornwall: ancient house, seat of the Earl of Mt Edgcumbe, now a National Trust Property.

9. Lady Elisabeth Theresa Feilding, née Fox Strangways, first m Talbot (1773–1846), WHFT’s mother.