Nice
14 November
My dear Henry
I am informed by Galignani that at a horticultural display at Bath lately 150 sorts of dahlias were shewn,<1> I am curious to Know if any of them were from Laycock, as Fitzsimmons <2> was so anxious last year to send some things. We have had the most extraordinary weather here this last fortnight, no Sun, cold north winds, & last night the Mountains near the town covered with Snow. Lady Clinton <3> arrived with her new rich husband Sir Horace Symour <4> just about the time the weather changed, & they declare they think themselves at Brighton. It has had wonderful good effects on me, my headaches left me with the Sun but I reserve to myself the right to demand my passports whenever it returns. Ever since Dr H. <5> pronounced I ought to go to England Mr F. <6> has done every thing in the world to facilitate my journey, & whenever I do go (for I have no hopes of this cold weather continuing) is to accompany me as far as Aix. I was really excessively ill before the weather suddenly changed, & almost beside myself with the desire to get away combated by my vexation at leaving Horatia, <7> on one side I placed the disadvantage to her of my absence, on the other the still greater to her of my loss of health & life – & so I passed I am sure full two months en bascule <8> – and you know how much uncertainty annoys Mr F. & indeed it is always tiresome to others, because one can never quite explain all the difficulties that distract one’s own mind. But though my health is better since these winds that blow from the Polar regions, yet there still remains that inherent vice of the place, that want of an object, of a motive for exertion or Exercise, for I agree with the savage of North America who thought it impossible to take a path only for walking’s sake. après tout mon ennui ne vient pas tant des lieux où je suis que de ceux où je ne suis pas, <9> as Bussy Rabutin <10> said when writing during his long Exile to his cousin Madame de Sevigné <11> – and so if it was not for wishing so very much to be at Laycock I should not be half so discontented here as I am. Knowing alas, how swift time flies, I could make up my mind to bear the next 3 months here, if it was not that I am losing them there – and I cannot resign Months as lightly now as I did twenty years ago – I cannot spare them. you have not written for a long time – your last is dated 29th October. will your friend Estcourt <12> succeed for Devizes? I hope so. I know nothing of Dundas <13> but his speech to the Electors, which was not good, at least as filtered though the English & French Papers. Do you approve of this new Agricultural association? It seems of a doubtful nature, & the language is strong of some of the Speakers. Have you seen anything of Sloperton? <14> I have heard nothing of him since his classic glories in Ireland, which were given in the greatest detail in all the European journals. Tell me about Ela & Bimbo <15> who I suppose have met by this time, as Caroline <16> says she is going Westward. Have you been at Bowood <17> since their return? Here is a string of questions which I desire you will answer. I wish you could keep Fitz till my return which will certainly be before the end of February at the latest, as I keep my determination of staying only a few days at Paris instead of the month that was projected, and shall be quite independent of them. This is supposing the roads to be impractical during December & January, for if it turns out after all not a severe Winter I can go at any time [illegible deletion] through France
Aff Y
EF
H. F. Talbot Esqr
Laycock Abbey
Chippenham
Wiltshire
Notes:
1. Galignani’s Messenger, a newspaper that had a wide circulation among English residents on the Continent. The Bath exhibition was held on 29 September.
2. Cornelius Fitzsimmons, Scottish gardener at Lacock Abbey.
3. Frances Selina Isabella Poyntz, Lady Clinton (1795–1875).
4. Sir Horace Beauchamp Seymour (1791–1851).
5. Dr Harrington. [See Doc. No: 03159].
6. Rear Admiral Charles Feilding (1780–1837), Royal Navy; WHFT’s step-father.
7. Henrietta Horatia Maria Gaisford, née Feilding (1810–1851), WHFT’s half-sister.
8. Sea-sawing.
9. After all my boredom does not only come from the places I have been but also from those I haven’t been.
10. Roger De Bussy-Rabutin (1618–1693), soldier and writer.
11. Marie de Rabutin-Chantal, Madame de Sevigné (1626–1696).
12. Thomas Henry Sutton Sotheron Bucknall Estcourt (1801–1876), MP.
13. Laurence Dundas, 1st Earl of Zetland (1766–1839), Vice-Admiral and politician.
14. Sloperton Cottage, Wiltshire, 1 mi E of Lacock: home of Thomas Moore, the Irish poet.
15. Ela Theresa Talbot (1835–1893), WHFT’s 1st daughter, and William Henry Edgcumbe, ‘Val’, 4th Earl Mt Edgcumbe (1832–1917), JP & Ld Steward of the Royal Household; WHFT’s nephew ‘Bimbo’.
16. Caroline Augusta Edgcumbe, née Feilding, Lady Mt Edgcumbe (1808–1881); WHFT’s half-sister.
17. Bowood House, nr Calne, Wiltshire, 5 mi NE of Lacock: seat of the Marquess of Lansdowne.