Walton House,
Bournemouth.
May 11th 1870
My dear Henry
It is such ages since I have had any tidings of any of you, that I can't stand it any longer - & I therefore beg you will immediately sit down & give me an account of the family - & where Rosamond & Amandier <1> are - for I am completely in the dark. We came here from Cotehele, <2> not long ago, on a visit to Val & Katie, <3> & were to have gone back as far as Torquay today, for the marriage tomorrow, for you have not perhaps heard that Flora Porcelli <4> is engaged to be married to a young clergyman, who bears the romantic name of Herbert St George. He is nephew to a Mrs St G. an old friend of Lady Brownlow's <5> - & is I believe an excellent young man - [illegible deletion] but poor - as some one said in the french [sic] play - ah! c'est un jeune homme charmant quant au physique - mais quant au morale - il n'a pas le sou! <6>
However the wedding is put off for a week - so we shall have to go back to Torquay on purpose. We leave this on Friday for London - where we have taken a house for the Season - No 3 Chesham Place - So please write to me there.
I found Katie very much better than she was in the Summer. This place suits her - It is all peaty & turfy, with no end of Pine Woods - half way between Poole & Christchurch.
Val wants me to ask you 3 questions - to which he cannot find the answers in a book of Astronomy he is studying - W
1o Why the moon always turns the same side towards us?
2o Why it is high tide at the Antipodes at the same time it is on this side of the world?
3o Why the Stars twinkle & not the planets?
Please answer these questions - & direct to me to 3 Chesham Place - what a gale is blowing! But the rain will do a world of good.
Give my love to Constance & Ela <7> -
Yr affte Sister
Caroline
Were you not horrified at the murder of those poor men at Marathon? I hope we shall do something to punish or coerce those abominable Greek ministers!
Notes:
1. Rosamond Constance 'Monie' Talbot (1837-1906), artist & WHFT's 2nd daughter and Amélina Petit De Billier, 'Mamie', 'Amandier' (1798-1876), governess and later close friend of the Talbot family [See Amélina's journal].
2. Cotehele, Cornwall: ancient house, seat of the Earl of Mt Edgcumbe, now a National Trust Property.
3. William Henry Edgcumbe, 'Val', 4th Earl Mt Edgcumbe (1832-1917), JP & Ld Steward of the Royal Household; WHFT's nephew 'Bimbo' and Lady Katherine Elizabeth Edgcumbe, née Hamilton (1840-1874), wife of William Henry Edgcumbe.
4. Flora Porcelli, daughter of her husband's niece through his sister, Lady Caroline Sophia Edgcumbe (d. 10 April 1824), who was the first wife of Reginald George Macdonald (d. 1873). In 1848, Annie Sarah (sometimes Sarah Anne) married Alfredo Salvatori Ruggioro Andrea, Baron Porceilli di Sant Andrea, a Sicilian nobleman and revolutionary commander.
5. Lady Emma Sophia, née Edgcumbe (1791-1872), widow of John Cust, 1st Earl Brownlow (1779-1853).
6. He's a charming young man as far as looks are concerned, but as for prospects, he hasn't a penny!
7. Constance Talbot, née Mundy (1811-1880), WHFT's wife and Ela Theresa Talbot (1835-1893), WHFT's first daughter.