Moreton
Monday
7th Feby
My Dear Henry
Thank you very much indeed for sending me the first intelligence you received from Palermo & I rejoice they are safe under the wing of an English Captain – the situation of Belmonte is prominent & tho’ quite out of the Town is above the Harbour so we thought it would be too exposed for them to be safe. I daresay now they will go to Rome as Naples will not be comfortable under present circumstances & there is no place like Rome for the month of March I think – .
Mr Mundy always expected this disturbance in Sicily to be a deeply rooted & determined one & from some circumstances he knows, I have little doubt Russia is at the bottom of it, and her support will encourage the Insurgents to hold out till they get what they ought to have – . We only saw the name of the D. di Serradifalco<1> in the first account, but as the Emperor took great pains to win him & he has spent some time at St Petersburg since, probably he is a friend to it at least, tho’ the name might have been a mistake as I have not seen it since – The [said] names are so garbled in the translations & copies &c wh appear in the Papers one can scarcely depend on them.
My Father desires to be remembered to you – He likes your Book much tho’ I believe wishes for a “Conference” on the subject of one word viz Sparrow Grass – I have presented him with an Antidote to put into his 4terly Review for the benefit of posterity – . I find the Trees grown since I was here 3½ years ago, but the weather is wet and dismal – Today we have a regular Sea Fog wch is quite a novelty – At present however my father is confined to the house with a lame foot wch he knocked some how – but it is much better & I hope he will go out in a day or two. – Give our love to Constance please. – We did not forget your Boy on the Feast of the Purification! – We were in S. Peters the Day he was born six years ago!<2> – and I have got a big candle blessed then by Sua Santità<3> quite orthodox! –
Yr very affte sister
HG Mundy
I suppose my Journals are still at Lacock as C. promised to tell me when she had an opportunity of sending them to M. Hennemann [sic]
Notes:
1. Duke Domenico Lo Faso Pietrasanta di Serradifalco (1773-1863), historian, archaeologist, key figure in the 1848 revolution in Sicily.
2. Feast of the Purification of the Virgin Mary, 2 February, the day of the birth of Charles Henry Talbot, (2 Feb 1842 - 26 Dec 1916), 'Charlie'; 'Tally'; antiquary & WHFT's only son.
3. His holiness.