Donnerstag 1. August 1833 –
[illustration]<1>
Donnerstag 30 Juli 1833
My dear Henry
I received your letter from Lucerne last Tuesday, only four days after it was written – it is very odd Amandier <2> has not yet received my answer, dated 16th July, since the communication is so rapid between Wisbaden [sic] & Switzerland – I suppose you left Berne before<3> it arrived there, where it was directed Poste Restante – What a charming tour you seem to have made! & all the pleasanter for having been at most of the places before. Was not Constance<4> delighted? you do not tell where yo[u]<5> [illegible deletion] lodged at Berne, & whether you visited the Marsoil Bay?<6> We have been here nearly a month, but shal[l] not be able to leave it I am afraid these 3 weeks Ld V.<7> was ordered 6 weeks bathing, but has had so many unlucky interruptions from gout – he had a fit on our first arrival, & since that had been going on well for a long time, when he had two falls from his horse in one week – He was not hurt by either except bruising his foot; but they very naturally brought on the gout again – he is better today & hard at work learning German – We have a Master three times a week – I am reading Goëthe’s Egmont<8> – do you know it?
I am so glad you agree to Varese, but I am sadly afraid we shall not be able to arrive there till the middle of September – however that is a very pleasant time of year, & as you say you intended going somewhere in the neighbourhood, I dare say we shall meet there tout de même<9> – pray continue it if possible – Moreover I wrote some time ago to invite Uncle William <10> to come & meet us at Varese there & to make him accede the more willingly, I held you out as a bait – I do not yet know whether he will bite. – Lady Charlotte Greville <11> is here – she is a nice<12> old Lady, & Kenny Greville <13> is expected today – Ld Francis Leveson <14> went off the other day to Scotland, having received intelligence that the Duke of Sutherland was dangerously ill, & since his departure we have heard of his death – as younger son he will have 70000£ – year.<15> Ld Dover<16> is likewise dead. But I suppose you have heard all this as well as the numerous marriages going on – the two latest are Susan Liddell to Captn Yorke <17> & Charlotte Liddell, (just come out,) to Mr Trotter. <18> Ct Danneskiold <19> is by this time married to Lady Elizabeth Bruce, Ld Aylesbury’s <20> daughter, & Lord A. at the same time was to marry Miss Tollimache.–<21> Giovanni <212> paid us a visit the other day, & to my great surprise told me you were going to spend the winter at Rome. If you do [illegible deletion] we shall be playing at cross purposes, since it is now deci[ded]<23> we go for the winter to Nice, as a more favourable climate for Ld V. In the Spring however we are advised not to remain there, but to go on to Nice Genoa or perhaps Rome, according to circumstances. –
Bimbo <24> flourishes, & is become very intelligent, or as Winifred says, so wise! he has just cut his two first teeth, which is a great comfort, though they are hardly yet visible to the naked eye. – Pray let me hear again soon, & continue directing here – & be sure to keep me au courant <25> of your direction, that our all communication between us may not be entirely [missing text]
Addio – love to Constance & Amandier–
Yr affte Sister
Caroline A. Valletort –
en Suisse
Monsieur
W. Henry Fox Talbot Esqr
Poste Restante
Berne
Notes:
1. Engraving of street scene entitled: ‘Das Theater in Wiesbaden’.
2. Amélina Petit De Billier, ‘Mamie’, ‘Amandier’ (1798–1876), governess and later close friend of the Talbot family [See Amélina's journal].
3. 'before' added in another hand.
4. Constance Talbot, née Mundy (1811–1880), WHFT’s wife.
5. Text obscured under seal.
6. Marsöil, near Chur, Switzerland, whose roman tower featured in contemporary Rhine views; there is a view dated 1830 by William Tombleson (1795-1846).
7. Ernest Augustus Edgcumbe, Lord Valletort, 3rd Earl of Mt Edgcumbe (1797–1861), WHFT’s brother-in-law.
8. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Egmont: Trauerspiel in fünf Aufzügen (Leipzig: Georg Joachim Göschen, 1788).
9. All the same.
10. William Thomas Horner Fox Strangways, 4th Earl of Ilchester (1795–1865), botanist, art collector & diplomat.
11. Lady Charlotte Greville née Cavendish-Bentinck (1775-1862), widow of Capt Charles Greville.
12. 'nice' added in another hand.
13. Probably related to Lady Greville.
14. Lord Francis Leveson-Gower, from 1833 by Royal Licence Francis Egerton, from 1846 1st Earl of Ellesmere (1800-1852).
15. George Leveson-Gower, 1st Duke of Sutherland (1758- 17 July 1833). Lord Francis inherited this improbable sum as a younger son because Francis Egerton, 3rd Duke of Bridgewater (1736-1803) left his canal-derived fortune to Lord Francis’s father and then to him.
16. George James Welbore Agar-Ellis, 1st Baron Dover (1797- 10 July 1833).
17. Susan Liddell and her husband Captain Charles Philip Yorke.
18. Charlotte Amelia Liddell (1814–1883), and her husband John Trotter (1808–1870).
19. Christian Conrad Sophus Lensgreve af Danneskiold-Samsoe (1800–1886).
20. Lady Elisabeth Brudenell-Bruce (1807–1847), daughter of Lord Ailesbury.
21. Maria Elizabeth Tollemache (1809-1893) second wife of Charles Brudenell-Bruce, 1st Marquess of Ailesbury (1773-1856).
22. Giovanni Percij, London servant to the Feildings and Talbots.
23. Missing text.
24. William Henry Edgcumbe, ‘Val’, 4th Earl Mt Edgcumbe (1832–1917), JP & Ld Steward of the Royal Household; WHFT’s nephew ‘Bimbo’.
25. Up to date.
26. By way of reply, absolutely nothing, ie, a complete blank.