Rue de Clichy
22 Mai 1820
My dearest Henri
Alack the day! You will not see me date from Montmorenci or Baden or any such romantic place, but from the flattish of the flat & dullest of the dull, Château de Pont de Brigne one league from Boulogne sur Mer!!! The only place in the whole world I always thought myself secure of not going to: Pont de Brigne! - nom de mauvais augure!!! <1>! Mr F. <2> says he cannot afford to go any where else this Year, tho' I offered to propose to you that you should pay your share of some agreeable place while you staid which I thought would arrange all parties, but this he would not hear of, & so next Sunday we set forth & make a slow progress intending to pass the first day at Montmorenci, the second at Chantilly, & the third at Compiegne & so on, to see all we can to console ourselves for what is impending. Mr F. does not take so gloomy a view of our prospects & says it is a good solid house, better built than they generally are in France, with a south aspect & a trout Stream in the garden. Whether the reality is like the description I will let you know. Direct Château de Pont de Brigne pres B poste restante Boulogne sur Mer
The Garden of Tivoli is lovely at present full of flowers & birds, & delightful walks, much more so than you can imagine from what you saw. It is grievous to leave The lilas I betted with you would be blown on the 8. April was not till the 22. did I tell you we had Wasps the end of April? The Nightingales sing all day as well as all night & there is a white acacia in full bloom just under my window which smells exactly like orange flowers. I never observed this effect before.
Henry Fox Talbot Esqr
Trinity College
Cambridge
Notes:
1. An ominous name.
2. Rear Admiral Charles Feilding (1780-1837), Royal Navy; WHFT's step-father.