Mount Edgcumbe <1>
Devonport.
Monday August 23rd 1869
My dear Henry
I am very glad to hear from you of Constance & Ela's <2> safe return to the dear old Abbey, after such a long absence - How glad they must be to see it again! I hope Constance has laid in a good stock of health in Italy, to enable her to enjoy her home again. Your garden ought to be brilliant - judging from the flowers here - the blossoms are really splendid - & the colours most vivid, owing to the Sun & dry weather. Ernestine <3> & I arrived here on Saturday afternoon also - having divided the journey from Kent by shopping in London on Friday, (when Goodwin <4> saw us, tho' I am sorry to say we did not see him,) lunching at the Paddington Hotel, (which we left by 4-20 Express) & sleeping at Bath. How near we all were to each other those two days! - One of our shopping affairs, was to order a smart bonnet for Matilda. She wrote her commission to Ernestine - & fortunately we had just time to execute it between Charing Cross Station & Paddington. After leaving London we staid 3 weeks at the Calverly Hotel, Tunbridge Wells, spending part of every day & dining with the Vals <5> - who have taken a house there for the Summer. Katie <6> is certainly better this year. Dr Frank, who went down to see her, was quite astonished & at the actual improvement that had taken place in the lungs; & she told me herself that she felt she was better, & could breathe differently to what she had done for a long time.
The children are much grown, & such dear little things! From thence we went up to London for a couple of days, in search of Wedding presents &c, & then went back a little way beyond T. Wells, to Eastwell Park, <7> on a visit to the Dss of Abercorn. <8> The Vals were there, but no other visitors. You know the two youngest daughters are going to be married - Lady Albertha to Lord Blandford, & Maude to young Lansdowne. <9> She is going on a visit to Emily Lansdowne <10> at Bowood, <11> with her elder Sister Georgiana <12> the middle of this week. They are all most charming girls - & Clan (as Ly. L. calls him,) is, I consider, a most fortunate man. He is also very goodlooking & nice in every way - so I hope they will both be very happy.
We could only stay 3 days at Eastwell, which we were very sorry for - as Val was coming down here, & we wanted to be here to meet him, during the few days he is likely to remain. Eastwell is a magnificent place belonging to Lord Winchilsea, who has outrun his fortune, & is obliged to let it - (They say that he & Lady W.<13> are living on [sic] a flat in Victoria Street! What a dreadful change from Eastwell, which is reckoned one of the largest & finest places in England. The ground is admirably thrown about - & we drove for a long time entirely on grass - thro' the most perfect Robin Hood glades you ever saw - overshadowed in the most romantic way, by trees of every size & shape - some in groups, some single, with enormous trunks - & thick fern everywhere; so high that it completely hid some wild looking cattle which were dashing thro' it - & must make beautiful coverts<14> for the deer & Stags which abound in the Park. In one place the fern was actually up to Val's shoulders on horseback!
We expect Val here this evening -
The British fleet is at anchor in the Sound - & a magnificent sight it is. Lord Gilford, <15> (Val's schoolfellow at Maisemore,) is in command of the finest ship among them - the Hercules - We went on board yesterday - The deck is 60 ft broad - & the total length of the vessel 324 ft - We stood in ammirazione <16> before some of the guns - weighing [illegible deletion] 12 tons & 18 - & at the ease with which they were worked.
Ld G. is, you know, Lord Clanwilliam's <17> Son.
The 3 five masted Ships are also here - the Northumberland, Minotaur & Agincourt, besides others. They have orders to sail this afternoon, & Mr Childers <18> goes on board the Agincourt. They go to Gibraltar, to join the Mediterranean Squadron & perform evolutions & man œuvres - soi-disant <19> under Mr Childers' Command - greatly to the disgust of Naval Officers in general.
Last mail from S. Australia brought me a nice letter from Charlie, <20> & a packet of seeds - for you & me. I will make a division, & send you your's [sic] as soon as I have time to look about me. My love to Constance & Ela -
Yr affte Sister
Caroline
I am shocked at the blotty ink!
[envelope:]
Henry Fox Talbot Esqre
Laycock Abbey
Chippenham
Notes:
1. Mt Edgecumbe, near Plymouth: seat of the Earl of Mt Edgcumbe.
2. Constance Talbot, née Mundy (1811-1880), WHFT's wife and Ela Theresa Talbot (1835-1893), WHFT's 1st daughter.
3. Ernestine Emma Horatia Edgcumbe (16 August 1843 - 1925), WHFT's niece.
4. George Goodwin (d. 1875), footman at Lacock Abbey.
5. 7. William Henry Edgcumbe, ‘Val’, 4th Earl Mt Edgcumbe (1832–1917), JP & Ld Steward of the Royal Household; WHFT’s nephew ‘Bimbo’; and his 1st wife, Lady Katherine Elizabeth, née Hamilton (1840-1874).
6. Lady Katherine Elizabeth Edgcumbe, née Hamilton (1840-1874), wife of William Henry Edgcumbe.
7. North of Ashford, Kent.
8. Louisa Jane Hamilton, née Russell, Duchess of Abercorn (1812-1902).
9. Lady Albertha Hamilton (1847-1932) married George Charles Spencer-Churchill, 8th Duke of Marlborough (1844-1892), and Lady Maud Evelyn Hamilton (1850-1932) married Henry Chas Keith Petty Fitzmaurice, 5th Marquess of Lansdowne; Earl of Shelburne (1845-1927).
10. Emily Jane Mercer Elphinstone de Flahault (1819-1895), 2nd wife of the 4th Marquess of Lansdowne.
11. Bowood House, nr Calne, Wiltshire, 5 mi NE of Lacock: seat of the Marquess of Lansdowne.
12. Lady Georgiana Susan Hamilton (1841-1913).
13. George James Finch-Hatton, 11th Earl of Winchilsea (1815-1877), and his wife, Constance Henrietta, née Paget, married 1846 (d. 1878).
14. Thickets where game can take refuge.
15. Richard James Meade, Lord Gilford (b. 1832)
16. Admiration.
17. Richard Charles Francis Christian Meade, 3rd Earl of Clanwilliam (1795-1879), diplomat.
18. Hugh Culling Eardley Childers (1827-1896), statesman.
19. Supposedly.
20. Charles Earnest Edgcumbe (1838-1915), JP, WHFT's nephew.