Brighton
29th October 1828
My Dear Mother
I left Dieppe this morning at three o’clock, and arrived here after a passage of 10 hours & a half. The day was beautiful – quite cloudless – but the wind was fresh, & the sea rough, which made the passage disagreeable. Brighton presents a wonderful contrast to Dieppe! I travelled in the diligence from Paris to Dieppe, & found it tolerably comfortable and nearly three times cheaper than posting would have been. I dined last Saturday with Lady Hunloke, <1> rue de la Pepinière, she has living with her Madama Pasta’s <2> little girl: Madme P. herself being at Como. Mlle Sontag <3> is living retired at Paris not yet recovered from her injured knee, Eliza sees her frequently. She tells me her friend Lady Sarah Beresford’s <4> match is off, because Lord Egremont <5> has put in a claim to her fortune, which is hard upon her. But I daresay Eliza does not know the rights of it, as she is apt to confuse names together. I went with them to the Opera to see Mlle Mallibran Garcia <6> in the character of Romeo. I like her very much but I don’t think she is handsome. I saw at Paris another sight – the Giraffe. Really it is a very gentle amiable creature. It has a delicate small head, and large black eyes, and a beautiful smooth skin. It is very conscious how tall it is, and very proud of it, delighting to stretch its long neck to the utmost, and look down upon the spectators. Three dwarf cows live with it to supply it with milk, it chief nourishment: but for the sake of variety it amuses itself with biting off the leaves of the Acacia’s as high as it can reach. – I liked Walter Scott’s 2d series of the Canongate “the fair maid of Perth“ <7> so much that I procured the 1st series. There are two very good stories in it “the Highland widow” and “the two Drovers” – The other story “the Surgeon’s daughter” I do not like, being violently improbable and altogether like the production of some common Novelist. The Papers say Moore <8> was offered a guinea a line for any poetry he would compose for the new Almanacks, “The Souvenir” <9> &c. but he declined from want of time. – When will his Legends <10> appear? I am anxious to see how Caroline <11> looks in print. Tell my Aunt <12> I thank her for her kind invitation: I shall not leave Brighton immediately, but repose a little after my voyage. I found a letter at Dieppe & 3 here. I wonder you never told me that poor Mr Paley <13> had been seriously ill. I only know it from the letter of a Clergyman (a stranger to me) who asks for the living in case of his death. I suppose when people are very poor they are driven to make such applications, that no chance however small may be lost of bettering their condition.
I remain Your affte Son
Henry Talbot
Lady E. Feilding
Moreton
Dorchester
Dorset
Melbury <14>
Notes:
1. Lady Anne Hunloke, née Eccleston (1788–1872); after 1860, known as Lady Anne Scarisbrick.
2. Madame Giuditta Pasta (1797–1865), opera singer.
3. Gertrud Walpurgis Sonntag, ‘Henriette Sontag’, Countess Rossi (1805–1854), German operatic and concert soprano.
4. Lady Sarah Elizabeth Beresford (1807–1884). She eventually married Henry John Chetwynd-Talbot, 18th Earl of Shrewsbury.
5. George O’Brien Wyndham, 3rd Earl of Egremont (1751–1837), famous patron of art. [See Doc. No: 01711].
6. Maria Felicia Garcia, later Madame Malibran, later Madame De Beriot (1808–1836).
7. Walter Scott, Chronicles of the Canongate, 2nd series, The Fair Maid of Perth (1828).
8. Thomas Moore (1780–1852), Irish poet.
9. Possibly The Cabinet of modern art, and literary souvenir, edited by Alaric Alexander Watts (London: Hurst, Robinson and Co., 1825–1837)
10. Thomas Moore, Legendary Ballads (London: J. Power, 1828); vignettes engraved by R.L. Wright 'after C.A.F.' [Caroline Augusta Feilding]. [See Doc. No: 01722].
11. Caroline Augusta Edgcumbe, née Feilding, Lady Mt Edgcumbe (1808–1881); WHFT’s half-sister.
12. Probably Lady Harriet Frampton, née Fox Strangways (d. 1844) . [See Doc. No: 01722].
13. See Doc. No: 01765.
14. Readdressed.