May 1st | 1833.
My dear Charles—
I am afraid there is little chance of your getting this letter as Capt.
Beaufort in his note to Papa said he thought you would not receive any letters we wrote
for some time after those the last we sent through the Admiralty office the middle of
March— I hope you received them safe— Our last letter from you was
dated 24th of November just before you began your southern expedition. My
dear Charles how happy I shall be when we get your next letter with a good account of
yourself after your stay in those cold & stormy regions. Very little has
happened at home since we last wrote— I have been staying 3 weeks in
Staffordshire at Maer & a few days at Betley—the John Wedgwoods were
at Maer the greatest part of the time. Only Aunt Bessy Elizabeth & Jos were
there of the family—it seemed very strange & melancholy to see so
small a family party Uncle Jos finds he bears the fatigue & late hours of
Parliament very well & is very much interested he is a strong ministerial
supporter & can't bear the radicals—
Emma Wedgwood went to attend Charlotte Hollands marriage with Mr. John
Isaac & then went to London with Mrs. Holland & Louisa.
She has since been visiting the Langtons at Ripley— the rest of the Maer
family went to London this week where they will remain some months visiting their
friends—
Susan & Cath have a very nice scheme of joining Harry & Jessie
& taking lodgings for 3 weeks in London this spring—they set
out the 21st of this month— We heard from Erasmus who seems
very happy & seemingly leading a dissipated life for him. Mr
& Mrs. Evans of Portrane are in London
& he sees a good deal of them. Mr Evans is in Parliament for the
County of Dublin— Erasmus is going to the meeting of the Philosophers at
Cambridge in June— he is going to visit Frederic
Hilyard— Louisa Leighton was married to Mr. Hope last Tuesday,
there was an immense crowd all St. Chads place quite full the Leightons
had a dance afterwards to which Catherine & Caroline Owen went. Susan was not
well with a cold & stayed at home. Susan is gone this week with
Mr & Mrs Cotton to stay with Wm.
Clives at W. Pool— Woodhouse is strangely
altered since your days only that quiet Caroline at home & hardly ever any
company. Francis is at home at present. They have had very pleasant letters from Arthur
Robert Clive returned from India a few weeks ago, not to go back again. We have hardly
seen him yet. he is grown very brown & looks much older from the last
3 years he has been away. Arthur Owen was staying in the same house with him in
India— Robert Clive speaks very well of him Poor Fanny Biddulph is in daily
expectation of her confinement— Mr B— quarreled with
his Landlord & they had to move their lodgings last week— the night
they got to them they were awoken by a smell of fire & it was discovered a beam
was on fire connected with one of the chimneys— poor Fanny was in a
gre<at> fright & for some hours in momen<tar>y
expectation of being obgd to leave the house, but before morning the fire was put out
& she has not suffered from her fright.— Emma Owen is grown a very
pretty girl— she is staying with Sarah Williams in London. My Father is grown
quite larky— he is going next week to see York & I go with him. We go
by Liverpool & return by Doncaster where we shall see Newstead Abbey which I
shall like— My Fathers breathing is certainly much better this summer than it
was last year. Capt Harding called here a few days
ago— I did not see him but my Father & Susan were very glad to hear
about you from him— Capt Harding is looking himself very
delicate, he wants to go at once to St. Helena & marry Miss Dona
Dallas, but his friends will not allow him till he gets stronger—
Tom Wedgwood has been staying with us. he says Robert is becoming a
great farmer he has taken several fields from Uncle Jos, keeps pigs, cows
& did keep 17 ducks but they came to a lamentable end, as after they
had begun to lay Uncle Jos said they eat the potatoes & must be taken from the
Pool. Robert obeyed & is obgd to eat his ducks instead breeding from them as he
intended—
Pincher & Nina are very well I am riding your Grey & every
thing & every body are going on just as when the last monthly letter went so you
must not mind such twaddly dull letter— the orchard is looking
beautiful in full blow. I guess you see no such pretty sights in Patagonia
Good bye my very dear Charley | All join in kindest love | Evr
yr affctne| Caroline Darwin *S 2
May 4th.
Shrewsbury
