August 22.
My dear Henry
I am no sooner out of one Quandāry – as my Father used to say – than I fall into another! N.B. Did you ever hear that word which is not in Halliwell <1> for I have just looked.– I send you Thereza Maskelyne’s <2> letter, with the very lame explanation – so stupid of Mr M that I send you his letter also– for as you will see, not a word did he say as to asking for refutation &c – nor did he send me any notes (as she says) only a very careless half copy of Genl Burgoyne’s <3> Statement of no use beyond giving me the authority for the accounts we have which was what I asked him ages ago to ascertain- I shall burn his letter that such stories may no be propagated to future times don’t you think so?– if now anybody finds the American book in B.M.<4> (where nobody is likely to look) we cannot help that.– End of Quandary 1o.
No 2. relates to an old letter I lighted upon a few days ago & which I once remember having seen but it made no impression on me apparently. The writer is old Mrs Weld of Lulworth Castle – Mother of the Cardinal &c.<5> After her Husbands death she went to live in the same convent in which her two daughters were Nuns– I think at Wincanton I remember our mother taking us to see the 2 Weld Nuns (her very great friends in early married life) on our way to or from Penrice <6> once. But what can she mean by the charge of the Bps of Bath & Wells – Who can he have been? She certainly could not mean our Bishop as she was far too strict a R.C. for that– & yet Mr Mundy <7> says that there was no one who ventured to take any title openly previous to Lord J Russell <8> & his “Durham Letter” with the new Law – which Law by the way strictly enacted that no titles of any kind were legal whereupon the R.C.s openly adopted them ever since!– only not of Sees where we already have Bishops– Mrs Weld was a very ill educated woman & my father used to amuse us by his account of talking to herself during their visits to Lulworth– The house was a refuge for Emigré Priests– such Gentlemenlike pleasant men – of good old french families – When Mrs Weld asked if Mr – would have any of the dish she was carving – they used to answer her “Merci” with an inclination bow upon wch she muttered “Is it Merci oui, or Merci non. I wish the man should speak out!”
If a Wild Duck or Teal appeared on a Fast day Mrs Weld called out “Mr Weld is it fish or Flesh? fish or Flesh?– I never know.”– NB. It is a pity it had not been decided once for all! but possibly depended on the Instructions & liberty from Rome wch vary sometimes if the early season is bad for Maigre. This is a long divergence from the Bishop but please do throw some light on the subject to enlighten the mind of
Your affte Cousin
H G Mundy
We shall be charmed to see Rosamond <9> on Wednesday Sept. 1 which I hear from Emily <10> is the day proposed. She will find Mrs Strangways here & probably Emily; sister & Mr Chayne Mansell so all fits to a T Why T I wonder Quandary 3! I have just invested in a sketching stool âpropos–
Best Love to Constance & Ela <11>
Notes:
1. James Orchard Halliwell-Phillipps (1820–1889), antiquary.
2. Thereza Mary Maskelyne, née Llewelyn (1834–1926), daughter of Emma and John Dillwyn Llewelyn, m 29 June 1858, Nevil Story-Maskelyne (1823–1911), photographer, politician & scientist.
3.Gen John Burgoyne (1723-1792); he surrendered at Saratoga.
4. British Museum, which housed the collections now in the separate British Library.
5. Mary Weld, née Stanley (1751-1830). The Cardinal referred to was her eldest son, Thomas Weld (1773-1837); he decided to pursue religion and gave up the Lulworth estate to his younger brother Joseph. His two sisters, Mary Sales Weld (d. 1866) and Clare Weld, were nuns of the Order of the Visitation; Harriet would have visited them when they were are Shepton Mallet in Dorset. Sister Mary became the first English Mother Superior of the Order in England.
6. Penrice Castle and Penrice House, Gower, Glamorgan, 10 mi SW of Swansea: home of Christopher Rice Mansel Talbot.
7. William Mundy (1801-1877), politician, WHFT’s brother-in-law.
8. Lord John Russell (1792–1878), statesman, ‘Letter from Lord John Russell to the Right Rev Bishop of Durham, relative to the insolent conduct of the Pope of Rome’, The Times (London), 7 November 1850.
9. Rosamond Constance ‘Monie’ Talbot (1837–1906), artist & WHFT’s 2nd daughter.
10. Emily Maria Georgiana, née Cavendish (1845-1929), wife of Francis Noel Mundy (1833–1903), WHFT’s nephew.
11. Constance Talbot, née Mundy (1811–1880), WHFT’s wife, and Ela Theresa Talbot (1835–1893), WHFT’s 1st daughter.