Cantileu <1>
4 October 1819
Care Henrice <2>
Tibi scripsi semel atque iterum sed nondum accepi responsum, ad quod vehementer miror, tum nesciam quid in causa esse possit. <3> As you have given me no subject & this place does not elicit any I will proceed with my register from where I left off. - 11th Sept most lovely day. 12th Magnificent day. Fête <4> de St Gorgon, Martyr, the tutelary Saint of Cantileu.
13th Very fine day with refreshing airs. Continuation of the fête of St Gorgon, which we duly attended, & walked home late in the Evg. 14th -
Un temps superbe. <5> blue cloudless Italian sky. Thermometer 70 in the shade.
15th September - Thermometer 72 in the Shade. Much Lightning in the Evening
16th Wet Day.
17th - Wet Morning, fine afterwards.
18th Very fine Day.
19th Thick Fog early, very fine afterwards.
20th Fine bright Day with cold north wind. Thermometer 50.
21st Wholsome [sic] bracing weather. Bright Sun.
22d Unclouded sky - Thermometer 47.
23rd beautiful looking day, blue sky Cold wind. Everybody ill & more or less affected in the Trachea owing to these north east winds.
24th The same cloudless sky & brilliant Sun, Wind changed, [text missing] & summerish.
25th Wet morning [text missing]ily hot afterwards.
26th fine Day.
27th Very warm & pleasant, with occasional showers
28th Un tems superbe.
29th Very fine Day, air very warm.
30th quite hot. walked out late in the soft Moonlight, not a breath of air moved the leaves.
1st October - Very hot Day. Beau clair de Lune, <6> walked in the Garden till late, not a leaf stirring.
2d October - Very mild Morning, small rain afterwards, - Fine Evening.
It appears that the climate is just as changeable as our own, but it is certainly warmer (tho' it does not feel so) for there is a little vignoble you may remember at the bottom of the Lawn here in a very exposed situation, which is now full of Grapes, I wish you were to be here at our Vintage. Lord Auckland's <7> opinion of the Manchester Magistrates, which you desire to have, is much the same as Mr F's <8> which he communicated in a letter to you.
I send y[ou from]<9> Mr F. a tricolo[text missing] ribband
W. Henry Fox Talbot Esqr
Trinity College
Cambridge
Angleterre
Notes:
1. Probably a misspelling of Canteleu, Normandy.
2. Dear Henry.
3. I have written to you once and then again but have received no reply from you, at which I wonder greatly, as I do not know what could be the cause.
4. Fair.
5. Perfect weather.
6. Beautiful moonlight.
7. George Eden, 1st Earl of Auckland (1784-1849), Governor General of India.
8. Rear Admiral Charles Feilding (1780-1837), Royal Navy; WHFT's step-father.
9. Text torn away under seal.