Nice
Friday May 22^nd 1835

My dear Henry

Thank you for having answered so expeditiously – I received your letter yesterday & am very glad to hear that Constance ^<1> is so much better but I am afraid she must have been very ill, by what I can gather from your slight hints – I am charmed by your account of Ela ^<2> & long very much to see her but cela ne sera pas ^<3> [illegible]. We have definitely made up our mind to stay here & glad enough I am that something should be settled at last. In fact we could not have set out for L^d V ^<4> only went out two days ago for the first time since the 4^th March – & was obliged to be carried down stairs & lifted into the carriage – Even today he can but just stand with crutches – Luckily we have a very nice & airy apartment, looking on one side to the Place S^t Dominique & on the other to the Corso, & till now have had nothing like hot weather –

Mamma ^<5> & C^o went on an excursion to Genoa by the Corniche last Tuesday – they intend being absent only a fortnight, & then all return again to the Maison Pierlas, which they keep on till 14^th June – Beyond that I am not certain as to their movements, except that Mamma will be with me here in August, while Papa, Horatia ^<6> & perhaps [illegible] go again to the Bains d’Aix so continue directing all your letters here till further notice–. Bimbo ^<7> is immensely grown & talks both French & English at a great rate.

He never confuses them but invariably speaks French to the foreign servants & English to his nurse, & even explains to her in English when she does not understand them –

Pray do write to me again soon – I am very anxious to hear of Constance’s recovery

London does not seem to be very gay this year – nothing but politics – Have you read M^r Moore’s Ireland? ^<8> –

Y^r aff^te Sister
Caroline

I suppose by this time M^rs Wilkes ^<9> must have received the letter I sent a few days ago, putting her off – will you enquire if she got it – I am sorry to lose the attendance of such a charming person as she seems to be but it is such a long journey that I decided to do without her –
The Orange flowers & Roses are in full bloom –

Angleterre
W. H. Fox Talbot Esq^r
31 Sackville Street
London

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Notes:

1. Constance Talbot, née Mundy (1811–1880), WHFT’s wife.

2. Ela Theresa Talbot (1835–1893), WHFT’s 1^st daughter.

3. That will not be.

4. Ernest Augustus Edgcumbe, Lord Valletort, 3^rd Earl of Mt Edgcumbe (1797–1861), WHFT’s brother-in-law.

5. Lady Elisabeth Theresa Feilding, née Fox Strangways, first m Talbot (1773–1846), WHFT’s mother.

6. Rear Admiral Charles Feilding (1780–1837), Royal Navy; WHFT’s step-father, Henrietta Horatia Maria Gaisford, née Feilding (1810–1851), WHFT’s half-sister.

7. William Henry Edgcumbe, ‘Val’, 4^th Earl Mt Edgcumbe (1832–1917), JP & Ld Steward of the Royal Household; WHFT’s nephew ‘Bimbo’.

8. Thomas Moore, The History of Ireland (London: Longmans, Green, 1835–1845).

9. Nurse.