TALBOT1205

Penrice ¹
August 23

My dear Henry

I think we have not used you well of late in point of sending you word of our proceedings, however I intend to behave better for the time to come so I hope you will not punish me as I deserve. We spent nearly two months at Malvern ² during which time we were terribly idle I must confess except working & a little drawing and painting we never did any thing indoors, most of our time was spent in walking backwards and forwards to Aunt Charlotte's house. ³ We have some very pleasant parties out on the hill when the weather was fine. My Uncle Charles Strangways ⁴ and Tom ⁵ came over from Cheltenham one day and M^r W^m Digby ⁶ from Offenham just before we set out to drive under the famous large oak at little Malvern, do you recollect it? M^rs Campbell ⁷ has been at Malvern for the last fortnight and is all the better for it I think, and, as to Charlotte ⁸ it is quite astonishing to see the difference it has made in her she is so brisk and busy, every thing interests her and the day is not long enough for her to execute half her projects. I am only afraid she will over fatigue herself now she is come home, because she is so happy to get her garden to work in again and all her old employments ready for her. Emma ⁹ too is much better she can come up our long staircases without being much out of breath and does not want to be helped walk up hill even. As to Isabella ¹⁰ she has had a cough for some time but returning home seems to have cured every ache & pain and she is now as full of life and spirits as ever. Mamma ¹¹ herself is tolerably well better than she was at Malvern in my opinion. We have not seen Kit ¹² for some time but we hear from him now and then, he has been very fortunate in racing, his Yacht ¹³ has won two cups this Summer which has delighted him very much, and all of us too of course. I forwarded a letter from you to him today which we found here; we did not return strait home so it has been waiting some time I daresay. - We went to Ludlow from Malvern, where we had so much to see that we stayed a couple of days, one of which we spent in going to Downton Castle where M^r Knight ¹⁴ (of the Horticulture Society) lives, he was so good as to shew us his garden & tell us of many curious experiments he tried with plants and trees, he gave us some delicious seeding cherries to eat, they were large trees now so we are encouraged to try the same experiment & saved some of the stones on purpose. I was delighted with the walks by the river side, the roads are beautiful and the trees so nicely taken care of the dead wood cleared away and plenty of room for them to grow in, the wood is rocky in some places and you have here and there a distant view of the Clee Hills, we found several plants of the wild raspberry and some pretty ferns one is the A. Conchitis, I think a Cyathea and something Dryopteris, the nettle leaved Campanula was a great ornament to the woods. from Ludlow we went to Hay ¹⁵ by Leominster & from thence to Brecon, <Tre>castle, ¹⁶ Llandovery, Llandilo & Pontardulais. we were enchanted with the mountain scenery all the way and Charry increased her stock of sketches, I think what she has drawn of Ludlow castle will be prettier than it really is for the horrid people have cut away all the beautiful ivy and covered the inside court of the Castle entirely with pear trees!!! in a drawing they may be converted into ivy without any body's being the worse for it. - The Man who shews the Castle is very ingenious in turning the Carmel coal, ¹⁷ he has made some beautiful vases from antique patterns & polishes them very highly he contrives to turn them all in one piece, but I should think he must often break the handles as it is such a brittle material. -

We expect Jane ¹⁸ here tomorrow, Johnny ¹⁹ is grown extremely active he walks about with a large stool on castors and travels along the floor on his hands and knees at a great rate. Sir John & Lady Nicholl ²⁰ &cc are coming too for a few days. -

I shall tell Jane to send you some account of the plants soon for I have not left myself room enough to say much. I have saved some seed of the Vicia gracilis. - The Cistus guttatus is lovely in full blossom now. only four or five sorts of plants are come up from the mixed seed as yet There is a double Pyrethrum in blow in your box. - All send their love.

I am your aff^ate coz.

Mary

We are going into Dorsetshire about Oct^r for some time to Moreton ²¹ & Melbury. ²² - Mr Lemon ²³ [missing text]²⁴ seem decided upon going [missing text] abroad in Sep^r.

à Monsieur
Monsieur Talbot
Poste Restante
Munich
Germany