Cotehele <1>
Friday Septr 24th 1869
My dear Henry
I am glad to hear you approve of the seeds, & the way they were packed up. It was the first time in my life I ever made those little papers for holding them, & always fancied the art was one I could not attain to. We shall be very glad to go & see you, if you like to have us for a few days – & shall be specially pleased to see Matilda’s <2> children – but I cannot imagine how you will hold us all! I want you to answer a question by return of Post, please. Is it true that on the 8th Octr (I think) there is to be the most extraordinary high tide ever known, & which all the inhabitants of the coast are looking forward to with terror? They say it has been predicted in the Newspapers, in consequence of some peculiar position of the Moon relatively to the Sun, & also because of the Moon being nearer the Earth than she ever was before – & they imagine the tide will rise 50 ft! The Cawsand & Kingsand people are in a great fright – & so is Elizth Victory, my Housekeeper, on account of her Sister who keeps the Cawsand School – & who she says will inevitably be washed away, with only a rise of 10 ft I comforted her by saying that if such a phenomenon were likely to occur, I was sure you would have imparted it to me. However please tell me. – I perfectly well remember Mr Moore, <3> in the winter of 1820, at Paris, sending portions of Byron’s Memoirs <4> to Papa & Mamma <5> to read before he destroyed them – wh he had not then quite decided upon doing. We leave this on Monday for Maristow.
Yr affte Sister
Caroline
[envelope:]
W. Henry Fox Talbot Esqre
Laycock Abbey
Chippenham
Notes:
1. Cotehele, Cornwall: ancient house, seat of the Earl of Mt Edgcumbe, now a National Trust Property.
2. Matilda Caroline Gilchrist-Clark, née Talbot (25 Feb 1839-1927), 'Tilly', WHFT's 3rd daughter.
3. Thomas Moore (1780–1852), Irish poet.
4. George Gordon Byron (1788–1824), poet. [See Doc. No: 09574].
5. Rear Admiral Charles Feilding (1780–1837), Royal Navy; WHFT’s step-father and Lady Elisabeth Theresa Feilding, née Fox Strangways, first m Talbot (1773–1846), WHFT’s mother.