Mt Edgcumbe <1>
Thursday 24th Decr 1835
My dear Henry
I travelled very leisurely the first two days of my journey, dining & sleeping at Frome & Ilchester, Honiton & Exeter – There Ld V. <2> joined me, & we went on Sunday to the Cathedral – The organ was magnificent & Handel’s Hallelujah chorus very well sung – the whole thing looked somehow more Catholic than any service I ever saw performed in England – The well filled Choir, the reading desk in the centre, the priest chanting the prayers with the responses given in parts, & the splendid Bishop’s throne with it’s carved canopy of old oak, rising nearly to the roof of the Church – it was empty however, his Eminence being at Torquay – A miserable lame beggar sitting shaking with cold under the porch, completed the resemblance to a Catholic Church – The next day we came on here – it was very cold crossing over – Bimbo <3> was wrapped up so that he could not see, & bundled from the boat into the pony carriage – Presently he exclaimed, like a lady in a play, waking from a swoon, “Where is I now? Is I in one car”? Since then we have had fine, but bitter cold weather – Today the ground was as white as if it had snowed. – I am delighted to be here, but I am afraid we shall not stay long – If you still intend making a tour into Devonshire I hope indeed you will come here, as I have no doubt we could receive you, Ela <4> of course included, for a week or ten days; but we have got no permanent establishment, shall perhaps go to Cotehele, & have likewise sundry County visits to pay, which I had not reckoned upon before – I am afraid therefore I cannot ask you to come for the sole purpose of visiting us, as it wd not be worth while undertaking such a long journey for so short a time – write me word what you mean to do – Apropos of that, I forgot before, to tell you that Sackville St <5> has not been arranged, nor furniture or draperies put up – We only had green baise put in the library & the carpets laid down in Mamma’s & Horatia’s <6> rooms, & those two beds & the one down stairs curtained – but that is all there are no window curtains anywhere – The dining room is entirely full of our packages, so if you do go to London, give us notice that we may have them removed out of your way – or desire Fanny <7> to write to Mr Finney, Ld Mt E’s <8> Servant at Richmond, who will have it done – perhaps the box of pictures & the statue might remain in a corner, without being inconvenient–
Addio fratello carissimo <9>
Yr affte Sister – Caroline
W. H. Fox Talbot Esqr
Laycock Abbey
Chippenham
Wilts
Notes:
1. Mt Edgecumbe, near Plymouth: seat of the Earl of Mt Edgcumbe.
2. Ernest Augustus Edgcumbe, Lord Valletort, 3rd Earl of Mt Edgcumbe (1797–1861), WHFT’s brother-in-law.
3. William Henry Edgcumbe, ‘Val’, 4th Earl Mt Edgcumbe (1832–1917), JP & Ld Steward of the Royal Household; WHFT’s nephew ‘Bimbo’.
4. Ela Theresa Talbot (1835–1893), WHFT’s 1st daughter.
5. 31 Sackville Street, London residence of the Feildings, often used as a London base by WHFT.
6. Lady Elisabeth Theresa Feilding, née Fox Strangways, first m Talbot (1773–1846), WHFT’s mother, and Henrietta Horatia Maria Gaisford, née Feilding (1810–1851), WHFT’s half-sister.
7. Servant.
8. Richard Edgcumbe, 2nd Earl of Mount-Edgcumbe (1764–1839).
9. Goodbye dearest brother.