Naples,
Friday March 7th 1823
My Dear Mr Feilding,
I understand that Ly Charleville <1> certainly does not intend to take the house, & I think as before that you would enjoy a visit to Naples much more in the month of May - Pray tell Montgomerie <2> there is a letter lying at the Post Office here for a gentleman of his name; but I don't forward it, as there is another George Montgomerie in the country. Vesuvius was magnificent this morning - Yesterday there fell a great deal of rain; & today he is covered with snow (cone & all) and a column of smoke rising from the Crater to the height of near ten thousand feet. I always observe that he is irritated by the rain & pours forth increased volumes of smoke. I hope you have kept safe for me the journals which have arrived since I left Rome. I should like to hear a little political news the present moment being so interesting, & I scarcely ever hear anything, as we live 2 miles from Naples.
A friend of mine took me the other day to see a mosaic pavement he has discovered, in a most beautiful, nearly inaccessible spot, hanging over the sea, and overhung by a lofty cliff, in the Bay of Baiæ <3> - The mosaic is very beautiful and rich in its pattern, half of it has unfortunately fallen into the sea. He meant to remove it to England but the Government have got wind of the thing, & he will be prevented. It is the law here that if a peasant finds any antiquity & does not give notice in 3 days to the syndic of the parish, he is imprisoned: the syndic reports it to the inspector, & he to Government who decide whether they will have it or not. Have you heard that the secret of the Egyptian Hieroglyphics has been at last discovered? at least in great measure. The discoverer is Monsr Champollion <4> of Paris - after all it appears the hieroglyphics are letters (at least in proper Names) and having once found out the Alphabet, by applying it to the great inscriptions on the temples of Carnac, Denderah, &c, we read the words Alexander, Ptolemy, Cleopatra, Augustus, Tiberius, Domitian, Trajan, Nerva, Antoninus, <5> with the titles Germanicus, Dacicus, &c.
It is expected Mr Bankes will certainly come in for Dorsetshire.<6> Do you hear that Canning is going to move the Repeal of the Foreign Enlistment bill? <7>
Yours most afftly
Henry Talbot
Monsieur
M. le Capitaine Feilding
Palazzo Ceva
Roma
Notes:
1. Probably the wife of Charles William Bury, 1st Earl of Charleville, 1st Baron Tullamore (1764-1835).
2. Rev. George Stephen Molyneux Montgomerie (1790-1850), close friend of Talbot family, artist, Rector of Garboldisham, near Thetford, Norfolk.
3. Ancient city of Campania, where there are remains of ancient Roman bathing facilities.
4. Jean-François Champollion (1790-1832) accomplished complete decipherment of Egyptian hieroglyphic writing in 1822 after long years of intensive work and many setbacks.
5. Alexander the Great (356-323); Claudius Ptolemaeus (Ptolemy) (100?-170?), astronomer, mathematician, and geographer; Cleopatra (69-30 BC), queen of Egypt; and the following Roman emperors: Augustus (63 BC-14); Tiberius (14-37); Domitian (81-96); Trajan (98-117); Nerva (30-98); Antoninus (81-161).
6. Henry Bankes (1757-1835), who was finally elected for Dorset in 1826.
7. George Canning (1770-1827), statesman known for his liberal policies as foreign secretary (1807-1809, 1822-1827) and as prime minister for four months during 1827. The Foreign Enlistment Act 1819 prohibited the equipping in British ports of ships intended to support belligerents in conflicts in which Britain was neutral. It was not repealed in 1823.