July 16. 1834
Lacock
My Dear Mr F.
You have not informed me whether you approve of the route I sent you, thro’ Compiègne <1> &c. –
If you go that way you will find tolerable inns, except at Salins <2> which is very bad; but I think a new inn was building there, & you can enquire whether it is finished. It is a picturesque town close to an immense insulated mountain called “le Poupet”. When you get to S. Cergues <3> you must take a guide & walk for a distance of half a mile thro’ a wood, which takes you out upon a meadow on the brow of the Jura, where you discover the celebrated view: – The best time for seeing it is near sunset, & it is of the greatest sublimity – You see it only imperfectly from the carriage road, therefore remember to take a guide to this point de vue. <4>
I am concerned that you do not take Antonio, <5> as he will have lost all chance I fear of a place for this season, everybody will be gone abroad –
I hope you received 2 letters at the Post Office at Farnham. <6>
Yours affly
Henry
The Times <7> today compares Ld A<d?> <8> to an armchair.Notes:
1. Picardie région, northern France.
2. North-east France, close to the Swiss border.
3. Saint Cergue, north-east France, close to the Swiss border.
4. View point.
5. Antonio Baletti, servant. [See Doc. No: 02725].
6. Parish in Dorset, near boundary with Wiltshire.
7. The Times (London).
8. A misspelling of John Charles Spencer, Viscount Althorp, 3rd Earl of Spencer (1782–1845), politician, who was chancellor of the Exchequer from 1830 to 1834. The precise remark being “a tortoise upon which our world reposes…”. The Times (London), 16 July, 1834, n.15531, p. 2.