Pratolino
19 August.
My dearest Henry -
I am not very well this evening & have indeed very little to say to you - but as it is possible my letter to Coblentz may not have arrived before your passing through, I send you a few lines that you may receive one letter from me on the road - I cannot tell you how we are all enjoying this beautiful place & delightful air. your sisters <1> are perfectly well, as indeed they have been ever since they have been in this country - I was disappointed at not having a letter from Calais yesterday - The Paris Newspapers of the 27th came so if you had written so late as the 25th even, I should have recd it, & unluckily the Post from Brusselles is 2 days longer on the road than the one from London, so if you have delayed writing till you get there it will be still some Time before I hear of your being safe over the water - I feel very ignorant of your plans of proceeding or of how long you intend staying in the different Towns, & have not the most distant idea where you are at this moment - This letter must I think be at Verona before you & that is the ne plus ultra <2> of my calculation - We were unlucky about the eclipse, & stupid I suppose about the Comet for without your assistance we cannot find it - I wrote you word that there is a good Astronomer & observatory <3> here - at least so I am told & promised an introduction which I shall apply for when you come - I am afraid you will find the heat oppressive, travelling, & that your Mother <4> will be plagued with Mosquito's, & you too - I hope you bought the blue spectacles I recommended. They are absolutely necessary when exposed to the glare - William Strangways <5> being fixed at Naples with I conclude the power of coming to see us at Rome is a great piece of luck for us all all [sic] & you in particular - I should think it a blessed change if I were in his situation to be moved from Constantinople & to Naples - I am learning Italian, but very lazily - I have got the length however of buying books - The Box from England is not yet arrived, but will come soon I hope, 2 Months or 10 weeks is about the usual time - Your periodical publications <6> seem to arrive very regularly - I have taken great care of them - I hope by the bye you have not forgotten to leave word at the Post Office to have your letters forwarded I am anxious to hear that your Courier turns out useful, & that you like him - Adolphe <7> does so well & gives me so little trouble, that my disappointment about Nicolle <8> is not so great. The Russels <9> have not yet had an answer about their a house at Lucca, & I do not therefore know if I can have theirs here - it will be a disappointment to me not to have it after all, it is so much the best & coolest here.
GOD bless you my dear HYr ever aff friend
C. F
Monsr
Monsr Talbot
Poste Restante
Verona
Notes:
1. Caroline Augusta Edgcumbe, née Feilding, Lady Mt Edgcumbe (1808-1881); WHFT's half-sister, and Henrietta Horatia Maria Gaisford, née Feilding (1810-1851), WHFT's half-sister.
2. Furthest possible extent.
3. Probably the Observatory of Arcetri.
4. Lady Elisabeth Theresa Feilding, née Fox Strangways, first m Talbot (1773-1846), WHFT's mother.
5. William Thomas Horner Fox Strangways, 4th Earl of Ilchester (1795-1865), botanist, art collector & diplomat.
6. See Doc. No: 00987.
7. Probably a servant.
8. Nicolaas Henneman (1813-1898), Dutch, active in England; WHFT's valet, then assistant; photographer.
9. Probably William Russell (1767-1840) and his wife. [See Doc. No: 02893].
10. Rev. George Stephen Molyneux Montgomerie (1790-1850), close friend of Talbot family, artist, Rector of Garboldisham, near Thetford, Norfolk.