Paris –
6 Feb March
Answer me about the day of yr being here
My dear Henry
Your letter came just as we were moving to another house, which is one reason why I have not sooner answered it – & another is that after puzzling my head to little purpose, I am obliged to refer you for a solution of your difficulty to the different commentators on Shakespeare, you can easily get to look at them at Camb <1>: the edition I have with me has neither note or comment – In “Johnson & Stevens’s”[sic], <2> or in “Reid’s”[sic]<3> edition you will find all that has been said on the subject – after all the meaning may be very near the surface, & be merely, that as he implies what she requires of him to be more than the doing of man & the act of a beast without reason or conscience she with a quibble on the (implied) word, says “what beast”? – in Henry 4 Falstaff says to Mrs Quickly, “ you are a thing” “what thing Sr John” is her reply<4> – I have taken this house in the R. de Clichy No 17 for two months but our plans after that are not fixed – We should both like very much to go Southwards & the more so for your wishing it, the reasons against our doing so are that we must be in England for your coming of age, & that I have a great dread of a long winter Journey across France – that my money will not hold out against the expense of a mere Summer excursion & that wherever I go I must remain for some time to recover the cost of the Journey When do you expect to be here? if by the end of this Month I would put off deciding till I had talked to you. If we do not go South I think of [Havre de Beau?] I have heard of a house on the hill which would suit me, with the view &ca which we admired so much – next week I am going to see it – but shall not settle anything decidedly till I hear from you – it wd give me great pleasure, that you should pass the time you can give us [illegible deletion] agreeably & where you like
I am truly happy at the account you give me of your progress, & feel certain you would not have the confidence you describe if it was not well grounded. I think Sir C. Cole <5> will be returned for Glamorgan <6> – as to the Spanish insurrection <7> the only thing which appears to me certain is that it decided the question as to South America – it is impossible, that with so much to do at home, the Spanish govt can send Troops or take effectual measures in the education of that distant country – for some time I thought it was merely the refusal of some regiments to embark but the time it has lasted gives the affair a more serious appearance – It is high time that detestable government shd be over thrown – I have left my self no room for any observation on the state of affairs here – things cannot go on as they are but what will happen nobody can prophecy – The murder of the D. de B. <8> has altered the whole appearance – I hear it from the best authority one of the examining judges that up to this time no single thing has come out to make it appear that Louvel <9> was connected with any creature. Every day information is forwarded which if true would make it seem that many persons were aware of the his intention – but when fairly examined it has always turned out false: The French all talk of a crise being at hand – which means that the Government are about to attempt some alteration by force of the Charter if they do there will be a crise indeed for a revolt would inevitably follow.
God bless you
Henry Talbot Esqr
Trin. Coll.
Cambridge
Notes:
1. Trinity College, Cambridge.
2. George Steevens and Samuel Johnson (eds), The plays of William Shakespeare (London: 1778).
3. Isaac Reed, The Plays of William Shakespeare (London: T. Longman, 1793).
4. Captain Feilding's memory is slightly off here. In Henry IV part 1, act 111, scene 111, Falstaff says 'Go, you thing, go' and Mistress Quickly replies 'Say, what thing? what thing?'
5. Sir Christopher Cole (1770–1836), Captain, MP & naval officer.
6. Sir Christopher Cole had been MP for Glamorganshire in 1817 and 1820.
7. Spanish Civil War (1820–1823).
8. Charles Ferdinand d'Artois Duc de Berri (1778-1820), youngest son of Comte d'Artois, the future Charles X, was stabbed to death by saddler named Louis Pierre Louvel upon leaving the Opera House at Paris on 13 February 1820. His death hastened the downfall and replacement of the Decazes government and the polarisation into liberal and royalist groups. [See Doc. No: 00864].
9. Louis Pierre Louvel (1783–1820).