Genoa
8th January
Mio Carissimo <1>
I received yesterday your letter of the 19th of December, which was short & sweet, you might easily have made it longer as you know how interested I am in every thing at Penrice, <2> even to the growth of the Holly I planted in the flower Garden in 1811, & from your aunt <3> down to her little Grandson, who you have however the grace to mention. Not one Letter did you indite to any of us while you were at Melbury <4> nor should I have known you had been there but from Lord Auckland. <5> I hope you will behave better at Bowood <6> & write more when you have such plenty of materials. I have been confined to my dressing room & bed room for a fortnight with a most terrible pain in my face, & never passed a more triste <7> Xmas, owing to this, for au reste l’hyver s’ecoule assez doucement <8> & in general the weather is so fine that one entirely forgets the Season of the Year, how is it possible to recollect it is the depth of winter when one is canopied by such blue Skies, such bright Suns, such a cloudless atmosphere & when one sits in a garden gathering orange flowers & violets & roses? – I always understood Kit <9> had a very good understanding – but “great talents” you surprize me! –
Did you ever go to see the English Ambassador’s Villa here? it is on the left hand as you enter Genoa from Savona within the Lighthouse. The Garden behind it is really one of the prettiest things I ever saw in any country. Through the branches of old Ilaxes you have a magnificent view of the Bay & Shores covered with boats & Palaces, & all that fine combe of the city of Genoa with the setting sun gilding it, & the garden itself is one of the most beautiful being rich in large Arbutus, quite fond[?] trees, loaded with yellow & scarlet fruit, with luxuriant branches of blossoms. It is altogether a happy mixture of the three Styles Italian, English & French Gardening. There is a Professor San Quintino <10> who says he is ambitious of making your acquaintance, he is ambitious of making your acquaintance, he is Lucchese, he comes here very often. There is another who improvises in Latin, & very good Latin, they say. I have never heard him he is gone to Turin, but is coming back. Baron de Zach <11> is my favorite of all the acquaintances I have made here, he is extremely agreeable on all subjects.
Mr F. <12> is provoked with Richard <13> for he has<14> concealed from him that his place (in [text missing] I believe) keeps him all day long away from the house & of course lessens the chance of letting it. He only learnt this lately from a correspondent in London who said it was unfair Mr F. should continue to pay him the same wages & board wages as when he attended wholly to his affairs & that he not only now was well provided for, but was never in S. St but at night or Sundays. Richard is a sentimental humbug & writes letters full of feelings & delicacy while he has not the common honesty to decline receiving what in fact he ought to feel he has no right to.
Caroline <15> has received your parcel at last, & thanks you much. The paper is very pretty.
I dare say he will make some lamentable story to you therefore I put you in possession of the facts of the case. It would be as well for us to pay the duties for that box <16> at once without any more bother he talks of sending it to Calais to enter London on 1st [illegible]
GENOA <17>
W. H. F. Talbot Esq
31 – Sackville Steet
London
Ingliterra
Notes:
1. My dearest.
2. Penrice Castle and Penrice House, Gower, Glamorgan, 10 mi SW of Swansea: home of Christopher Rice Mansel Talbot.
3. Lady Mary Lucy Cole, née Strangways, first m. Talbot (1776–1855), WHFT’s aunt.
4. Melbury, Dorset: one of the Fox Strangways family homes; WHFT was born there.
5. George Eden, 1st Earl of Auckland (1784–1849), Governor General of India.
6. Bowood House, nr Calne, Wiltshire, 5 mi NE of Lacock: seat of the Marquess of Lansdowne.
7. Sad, dreary, awful.
8. The rest of the winter passes softly enough.
9. Christopher Rice Mansel Talbot (1803–1890), immensely wealthy landowner, mathematician & politician; WHFT’s Welsh cousin.
10. Giulio dei Conti Cordero Di San Quintino (1778–1857), Italian Egyptologist.
11. Franz Xaver, Baron von Zach (1754–1832), Hungarian astronomer.
12. Rear Admiral Charles Feilding (1780–1837), Royal Navy; WHFT’s step-father.
13. Richard, a servant.
14. Written off the edge of page.
15. Caroline Augusta Edgcumbe, née Feilding, Lady Mt Edgcumbe (1808–1881); WHFT’s half-sister.
16. See Doc. No: 01135.
17. Printed text.