Croix de Malta Genoa
April 6th 1868
Princess Margherita

My dear Papa,

Monie thanks you for your letter to her received yesterday – Since you wrote you will have got hers of last Thursday friday by which you will have seen that we could not at present fix our time for leaving Genoa on account of Mama’s illness. She is going on favourably at present and the rhumatism [sic] from which she suffered so acutely has very much abated – she is still troubled by her cough (proceeding now from an irritation in the throat) but that is also getting better and last night she slept quietly and comfortably till 5 oclock in the morning – so that there is much real improvement – She has not yet tried sitting up but is to do so today if she feels inclined; but of course after this attack she will be some time getting up her strength sufficiently to travel and she wishes me to say that we will write as soon as possible to let you know when our plans are settled – at present we cannot tell if our time or her strength will enable us to carry out all that we proposed originally. Mama also desires me to say that we shall want a new letter of credit to be sent at your earliest convenience to Genoa – of the last remittance (dated February 10^th) she repaid to Mamie the loan of 45 £ which she told you about – 35 £ she retained for private expenses, doctors bills &c, and 220 were paid to Bayer – making up the sum of 300 £ –

Our weather for the last few days has been delightful – the air mild and pleasant but the heat of the sun a little overpowering in the middle of the day – the flowers are in full perfection as testified by the enormous bouquets sold at all the street corners, and at times I wish myself in the country to see the wild ones that were only just coming on when we left San Remo – but one cannot have every advantage at once and we certainly might have been stuck fast in a less desirable place – I am so glad you are lucky in a fine spring at Lacock and if you are kept there a week or two longer I shall not quite pity you, as I think the early spring is always such a nice time at home when the weather is fine – but your accounts of the early part (of the winter) were too dismal and I was quite afraid you and Charles would be having shocking colds – Tilly speaks of a frost at Dabton which has done much harm to the young leaves that were coming out too soon – I hope you will be more fortunate at Lacock, but it is always the great risk when the Spring is early. There is a profusion of banksia roses in some of the gardens here – the lilacs also are fully out but I have only seen gathered ones – carnations ranunculus &c &c are plentiful –

I hope you admire the portrait of the Princess, I send you; some of the the larger ones are very pretty but too heavy to go in a letter Prince Humbert also makes a good photograph but I have not seen him yet on letter paper –

Yesterday Mamie and Monie accidentally met M^rs Spedding and her daughter Margaret – they are staying at Genoa only for a few days at another hotel and did not know we were here; today I suppose we shall have a visit from them – I do not know where they go after this – most of the travellers that have been passing through were on their way to Rome for the holy week; on Sunday week we were 40 at dinner at the table d’hôte – Since then we have been much reduced in numbers and are generally not more than 4 or 5 counting ourselves! – in fact we have now the hotel quite to ourselves and are very quiet and comfortable in consequence – the women at the fruit stalls and in the markets are selling branches of Palms, plaiting them into various ingenious shapes more curious than beautiful and we rather expected yesterday to see some sort of procession – but there was nothing of the kind and the churches were as quiet and deserted as usual – but few priests and hardly any congregations – There are several very large convents here, but all suppressed of course, – and they are going in some instances to make public gardens of the convent grounds, which will be an advantage to the town which at present only possesses the Acqua Sola as a promenade –

Good bye dear papa,

I suppose you will write again soon and tell us your plans – Y^r affec^te daughter Ela