Mt Edgcumbe <1>
Tuesday 12th January – 1836
My dear Henry
What I told Constance <2> was that Sackville St <3> was only lent to us till 16th February as I believe it is then to be painted & done up to be ready against their arrival – that is all I know about it, but when I write next to Mamma <4> I can enquire if you like. – My tooth is a great deal better, & I hope will soon get quite well. – The yellow Jessamine & Isola Bella Pines arrived quite safe & are established in the greenhouse, but I forgot to make enquiry about the Olives; the gardener however told me he had several young ones, which I should think can only be those – what a pity the Standard Olive in the English garden exists no longer – it was blown down in a gale – Among the young plants Sir Charles <5> sent me 3 years ago there are two young Caroubas about 1½ foot high – also a quantity of Acacia acuminata – pray tell me if that is rare, & the liquid-Amber?
I never saw Buckland Abbey, <6> except at a distance from the woods at Bere, whence it looked very pretty – but from report I hear it is an old Abbey converted into a good-sized dwelling house with a large hall & tolerably large rooms – the situation beautiful, woods & the river Tavy on one side, & on the other the Tavistock moors downs & Dartmoor – Within ½ mile of the house, over the Tavy, are 6 or 7 miles of Copse & wood belonging to Ld V <7>– (from whence I saw the house on a rising ground,) who is thinking of throwing a bridge across, & certainly wd do it if you took a fancy to the place – it is very solitary, 4 or 5 miles of from Tavistock & 9 from Devonport – the price was, from recollection, £200 a year; Close to the house, is a large farm, belonging to it, wh would be a great convenience – I know of no other residence that wd suit you – but it wd seem rather ludicrous, possessing one old abbey, to go and hire another? I am in haste as the post is going – let me hear again soon – Ld V. has written about our goods, & I believe they are removed by this time from S. Street –
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. Constance Talbot, née Mundy (1811–1880), WHFT’s wife.
3. 31 Sackville Street, London residence of the Feildings, often used as a London base by WHFT
4. Lady Elisabeth Theresa Feilding, née Fox Strangways, first m Talbot (1773–1846), WHFT’s mother.
5. Sir Charles Lemon (1784–1868), politician & scientist; WHFT’s uncle.
6. Buckland Abbey, Devon, built on the ruins of a 13th century abbey church.
7. Ernest Augustus Edgcumbe, Lord Valletort, 3rd Earl of Mt Edgcumbe (1797–1861), WHFT’s brother-in-law.