[this is written on the same sheet as a note from Horatia: Doc. No: 00118]
London
17 May
My dear Henry -
Your very welcome th[illegible] are this moment arrived to tell us of your being safe on Terra Firma again - & I do not lose a moment in replying & sending you some account of ourselves - Horatia <1> is going on as well as possible with her meazles, & Caroline <2> has not yet caught them, your Aunt Charlotte <3> has alternations of better & worse days but I am willing to hope & believe she gains on the whole - Ld Winchilsea <4> is not so well & I fear never will be much better - it is possible however that the long course of Easterly winds may have had some influence in increasing his Asthmatic affection - he is very weak, & can hardly speak - I fear some of our Letters to Corfu can have or ever will reach you, & still less your provisions which I sent off the moment I got your letter you had better write your wishes with respect to them to some Friend at Corfu - I was afraid you never would receive them, but I could do no less than follow your directions - I am afraid you found no letters at Florence, though some are gone there, but we were as you know in total ignorance of your plans & were led partly by your order for sea stores & partly by William <5> writing and [sic] you had proposed to meet him at Messina <6> to think Florence the last place we should direct to - From William You will have heard of poor dear Charlotte Lemons misfortune, <7> & all our distress - Her sad & uncertain state, the situation of my Uncle, the necessity of being wherever it may be best for Horatia's recovery from the Meazles, which is always tedious & requiring the greatest care - all make it totally impossible for me to give you what indeed we have never thought of - a plan for the summer - it is a great & real comfort to think that you are within reach , & that whatever circumstances may oblige us to fix on we can now more easily communicate to you - The German scheme is entirely knocked up of course - Your Mother <8> has been very nervous & anxious about her sister, but her health is certainly better - It has been a melancholy year in your Mothers Family & mine - The only one I remember when almost all of both were in Town together - You have been very good about writing, & we are all grateful -
GOD Almighty bless you Yr aff
C.F.
I must tell you one Joke of Ld Norburys <9> to make you smile at the end of this not very pleasant matter of Fact Letter - You know he is Chief Justice of the Common Pleas in Ireland - & from his age & infirmities ought to retire His Friends are endeavouring to persuade him to do so, & rather pressing him - "well" he said "it is all of no use for though I have many virtues resignation is not one."
Enquire for Letters at the Post office & at any other place you may desire me to direct to - enquire at the Bankers of your printed list of Hammersleys Correspondents -
Monsieur
Monsieur Strangways
Charge des Affairs de Sa Majeste Brittanique
Florence
For Henry Talbot
for Henry T.
Charles Feilding
Notes:
1. Henrietta Horatia Maria Gaisford, née Feilding (1810-1851), WHFT's half-sister.
2. Caroline Augusta Edgcumbe, née Feilding, Lady Mt Edgcumbe (1808-1881); WHFT's half-sister.
3. Lady Charlotte Anne Lemon, née Strangways (d. 1826), WHFT's aunt.
4. George Finch, 9th Earl of Winchilsea (1752-1826).
5. William Thomas Horner Fox Strangways, 4th Earl of Ilchester (1795-1865), botanist, art collector & diplomat.
6. Island of Sicily.
7. The death of her son, Charles Lemon (1816-1826).
8. Lady Elisabeth Theresa Feilding, née Fox Strangways, first m Talbot (1773-1846), WHFT's mother.
9. John Toler, Earl of Norbury (1745-1831), chief-justice of the common pleas in Ireland.