Nice
Friday February 28th 1834
My dear Henry
I ought to have written before to answer your letter & to console you in your solitude; but I have not much to say, not even about flowers – I am not up to much botanising at present, <1> therefore the result of my researches is limited to Anemone Hortensis & Coronaria – & Narcissus Tazzetta – which are planted in pots & decorate my window – I also know red tulips & Anemone Regina to be in flower & a rare species of white tulip streaked with crimson – did you ever find it? I mean to procure some of the roots & add to the others to send to England. The Narcissus I found in the corn-fields the other side of the Var, in a charming drive we took to Cagne, which I dare say you recollect – It is one of the most striking & picturesque places I ever saw. – We went up to the top, where is an extremely curious old Castle with a Chapel near it, excessively old & built, I think, without a single right angle. I have pointed out to Lady Cowper <2> the Acanthus, which grew in profusion – she was delighted with it & took away some roots – I never saw the Acanthus in this part of the world, & hope I did not lead her into error by mistaking something else for it –
This is the secret of the grafts, though it is not fair to publish it, as I found it out par trahison, <3> & though not a graft it is scarcely less curious & wonderfully ingenious – A good sized orange is chosen for the stock, & scooped hollow till nothing hardly but the bark is left – the Olive, Cypress, Rose & Jessamine are then planted inside, with their own roots in the ground, & made to come out in different parts of the Orange trunk, so as to have the appearance of grafts – the Mela-rose, Bergamotte, Citron, Lemon, &c – being really grafted, account for the great number of sorts on one tree, which could not live if all were squeezed into one trunk, which must be the case if their the nature of all was equally uncongenial to the stock. It seems that the Orange has the peculiar property of growing, though hollowed in the inside, & yet of not injuring the plants it encloses. – Ld Cowper <4> returned from Florence yesterday with the Fordwickes; I think they will stay on a little while – but the Jerseys go next week; so I suppose we shall have a month or three weeks perfect solitude.
Addio carissimo fratello <5> – write me some news to divert me – the debate upon Mr Shiel must have been amusing, but you could not have in town <sic> on that night –
Have you been introduced yet to Kerry’s <6> future?
The weather has been lovely here –
Yr affte Sister
Caroline
I understand the Play at Laycock Abbey was admirable, & that Horatia <7> acted uncommonly well – Bimbo <8> is quite well – is weaned & walks alone – Angleterre
Henry Fox Talbot Esqr M.P.
31 Sackville Street
London
Notes:
1. Caroline was about three months pregnant with her second child.
2. Lady Emily Mary Cowper, née Lamb.
3. By treachery.
4. Peter Leopold Louis Francis Nassau Clavering-Cowper, 5th Earl Cowper (1778–1837).
5. Goodbye dearest brother.
6. William Thomas Fitzmaurice, Earl of Kerry (1811–1836), MP.
7. Henrietta Horatia Maria Gaisford, née Feilding (1810–1851), WHFT’s half-sister.
8. William Henry Edgcumbe, ‘Val’, 4th Earl Mt Edgcumbe (1832–1917), JP & Ld Steward of the Royal Household; WHFT’s nephew ‘Bimbo’.