Mount Edgcumbe <1>
Devonport.
Sunday evening
Sept– 19th 1869
My dear Henry
I have been so busy lately, that I have not been able to select the seeds you wished for till today. I now send you the seven sorts you mentioned.
We are going tomorrow to Cotehele <2> for another shooting week – after which we go to Maristow on the Tavy, on a visit of 3 days to Sir Massey & Lady Lopes, <3> & thence to Bowood <4> – which I shall be so glad to see once more under Emily Lansdowne’s <5> reign – & she has pressed us so very kindly to go & see her. I am delighted to hear that she was very much pleased with her future daughter-in-law Maude Hamilton <6> – who spent 10 days at Bowood – with her Sister Georgiana. <7> Shall we see you while we are at Bowood? or shall you all be migrating North on the approach of winter?
I was excessively indignant with a letter in the Times a fortnight ago – written in defence of Lord Byron – in which the writer has the impudence to say that Moore destroyed Lord B’s Memoirs, “bribed by his relatives, Lady Byron <8> apparently among them, to burn the whole journal”. It was only an incidental remark – but the idea of Moore being bribed!! – is too much to tolerate!
Monday
Very busy packing up – so must say goodbye – with love to Constance & Ela. <9>
What is Amandier’s <10> present address?
Yr affte Sister
Caroline
Notes:
1. Mt Edgecumbe, near Plymouth: seat of the Earl of Mt Edgcumbe.
2. Cotehele, Cornwall: ancient house, seat of the Earl of Mt Edgcumbe, now a National Trust Property.
3. Sir Lopes Massey (1818–1908), politician and agriculturalist, and his wife.
4. Bowood House, nr Calne, Wiltshire, 5 mi NE of Lacock: seat of the Marquess of Lansdowne.
5. Emily Jane Mercer Elphinstone de Flahault ( 1819–1895), wife of the 4th Marquess of Lansdowne.
6. Lady Maud Evelyn Hamilton (1850–1932).
7. Lady Georgiana Susan Hamilton (1841–1913).
8. George Gordon Byron (1788–1824), poet; Anne Isabella ‘Annabella’ Milbanke, Lady Byron (1792–1860); Thomas Moore (1780–1852), Irish poet. In 1830, Moore published the Letters and Journals of Lord Byron, in which he included a life of the poet. The letter was "The True Story of Lady Byron's Life," signed by Wharton & Fords, the solicitors for Lady Byron's estate, The Times, 2 Sep 1869, p. 4. A modern biography of Byron’s daughter states that Lady Byron’s agent burnt the memoirs during a meeting at John Murray’s (who was the publisher), who himself wished them destroyed: they were too hot to handle. See Benjamin Woolley, The Bride of Science (London: 1999).
9. Constance Talbot, née Mundy (1811–1880), WHFT’s wife and Ela Theresa Talbot (1835–1893), WHFT’s 1st daughter.
10. Amélina Petit De Billier, ‘Mamie’, ‘Amandier’ (1798–1876), governess and later close friend of the Talbot family [See Amélina's journal].