TALBOT2371

Southampton
Friday morn^g

My dear Henry

Our visit at Cowes was very pleasant – Aunt Harriot ¹ was exceedingly hospitable as usual, & pressed us very much to stay another day – Yesterday was delightful – L^d V. M^r Mundy & Charlton ² set sail in the Petrel at 8 o’clock to go to Portsmouth, & were 4 hours on their voyage of 12 miles – but they were very much interested by what they saw there – In the mean time Louisa ³ drove me in the gig to Carisbrooke Castle ⁴ – the situation is commanding & the approach & village near it very pretty & well wooded – The Gate is handsome & I took a very picturesque sketch of it – They shewed us the window of the room where Charles 1^{st 5} was confined & a very curious well three hundred feet deep with 90 feet of delicious water; the whole, except a few feet towards the top, being excavated in the live rock –

They poured some water down & the noise it produced passing through the air was very curious, long before we heard the splash at the bottom. – We dined with Aunt H. & returned here in the Petrel – We set off this morning for Lyndhurst & shall not stop any where so direct to M^t Edgcumbe, ⁶ where we hope to arrive Monday early –

Addio y^r aff^te Sister
Caroline

[envelope:]
Henry Fox Talbot Esq^r
31 Sackville S^t
London