[written on the same sheet as a note from Lady Elisabeth - see Doc. No: 01166]
Rome -
Monday
My dear Henry -
You give me no directions about Lodgings, so I shall do nothing till I hear from you - Your old ones are still to be had, but the demand for them is so great, that I fear they may be discovered; there not being so is your only chance - They would I suppose hold you & William <1>, but where Jane & Mr N. <2> could be I have at this time no idea - though some of the Jam may empty a little by the Thursday or Friday after Easter - our Plans have been necessarily uncertain depending on some person taking a Fancy to the house - now all hope of that is over, they assume a more consistent shape - & I intend to leave this the 1st or 2d of May & shall therefore want a lodging at Naples for a Month from the 4th or 5th of April, or I would rather take it for 3 weeks, with the Power of staying on - I want Plate & Linen, & above all I want it cheap for I am ruined - For so short a Time we should not mind being a little squeezed, & if it was necessary could make Montgomerie <3> take a lodging near - I wish you would make Giovanni <4> look out for one - of situation I know nothing, but a good view is essential, & not to be exposed to the Evening Sun. Lady Mary D[illegible] had a nice apartment I hear & I am recommended No 44 in the Caia - you had better not fix on any thing, but I will write from this place after we have talked over those you have seen - I shall leave the Fourgon <5> & all my Books behind, but [illegible] I must take 2 carriages I may as well take Ad: & Domenico <6> & keep house which will be both comfortable & economical - I shall want therefore Kitchen Furniture, Crockery &cc -
I hope you will return with us, & think that during the fine weather we hope for in April you will find time to see all you have left unseen there, so as to be able to act as Cicerone at Naples - I have no news for you - It has never been my opinion that war would take place, & I think still, that Louis 18 <7>, finding his present Ministers <8> have got him into a great scrape & are getting him into a worse, will throw them over, take in a more liberal set, & preserve Peace with Spai[n - If]<9> I am wrong, & war with Spain <10> begins, & a Revolution in France follows, GOD knows how or where it can end - GOD bless you - we have had a couple of fine days but today it is clouding over again. I fear we shall be caught by the heat before we get North, but it cannot be helped -
Monr
Monr W. H. F. Talbot
Napoli
Notes:
1. William Thomas Horner Fox Strangways, 4th Earl of Ilchester (1795-1865), botanist, art collector & diplomat.
2. Jane Harriot Nicholl, née Talbot (1796-1874) and Dr John Nicholl (1797-1853), MP.
3. Rev. George Stephen Molyneux Montgomerie (1790-1850), close friend of Talbot family, artist, Rector of Garboldisham, near Thetford, Norfolk.
4. Giovanni Percij.
5. Baggage waggon.
6. Probably Adolphe and Domenico, servants.
7. Louis XVIII (1755-1824), King of France (1814-1824).
8. He refers to the ultraroyalist wing of the royalist movement that controlled the Chamber of Deputies and the cabinet. [See Doc. No: 00881].
9. Characters missing.
10. There was a Spanish Civil War from 1820 to 1823.