London
12th Feb. 1834
Dear Constance
Yesterday we had a very pretty debate, <1> about five hours long – As it was upon six or seven different subjects one after the other, there was not enough of each of them to be tedious – People spoke short speeches & to the point, the house was in very good humour, and altogether there is a great improvement in the style of debate compared with last year. How it will be when the majority of members are come to Town I cannot tell.
Today is a beautiful day, how enjoyable it must be at Lacock –
I am glad to hear that Winifred is gone from Caroline <2> & that peace will be restored in her ménage.
Do you recollect when we were at Paris, M. Geoffrey St Hilaire <3> the President of the Academy of Sciences in going to view the Obelisk on board the Luxor fell into the river & would have been drowned had he not been rescued by a sailor – The other day the sailor himself fell into the river, & less fortunate than the president found nobody to rescue him, but was drowned –
Last year but one Fitzsimmons <4> let all my seeds in the greenhouse perish in the summer for want of water, which makes me mistrust his care in future.
Your affte
Henry
Notes:
1. WHFT was the Whig MP for Chippenham from 1832 to 1835.
2. Caroline Augusta Edgcumbe, née Feilding, Lady Mt Edgcumbe (1808–1881); WHFT’s half-sister.
3. Geoffrey St Hilaire, French naturalist.
4. Cornelius Fitzsimmons, Scottish gardener at Lacock Abbey.