Avignon
29th October
My dear Henry
I think you will be glad to hear we are arrived thus far so much better than I thought possible The day I left Chambrey I felt so very ill that I thought with dismay of the immense journey to Nice & at Grénoble we were obliged to remain till I was recovered enough to proceed. I certainly would rather have turned the horses heads toward England & we should I really believe have done so but for the persuasion that Nice is to be of such essential benefit to Horatia. <1> However every step since has seemed to do me good & the excessive heat since we have been in the South has I suppose absorbed all rhumatics. The Sun to day has been like July in England & sometimes made me ready to faint. We shall be at Nice Saturday or Sunday & expect to find piles of letters from you & Constance <2> after all your promises. I am anxious about Caroline <3> as immediately after she left Aix it began to snow & the weather was dreadful for several days which must have made Mt Cenis cold & dismal not to mention the Bimbo (probably) catching cold at Lanslebourg which is the Cave of the Wines. We found Ld & Lady Shrewsbury <4> & Princess Talbot & suite <5> at Grénoble, they are going to Nice & have got a house in the Croix de Marbre. It made Horatia quite dismal to recollect all our mirth & gaiety in that very room at the Hôtel des ambassadeurs. Do you remember all the bonts rimés & logogriphes and your coming down to us from the Grande Chartreuse? <6> happy days! I wish I felt as cheerful now. Princess Talbot has been fiancée the Spring, but the Prince of Saxe Altenbergs Father having died the marriage is postponed. We are beginning to be in a fright that all the houses will be taken, having heard of so many going to Nice. Tell Constance to let me know whether she has had the proposed interview with Mrs Wilkes.
Affy Yrs
EF
I shall be very angry if I do not find letters at Nice – I wanted a particular account of your travels back to England. Mr F. <7> wrote to you from Aix, & we wrote to Manheim, Cologne, Bruxelles & Ostend
I hope Fate will not place us in the Maison Balmondi – it would make me too melancholy, particularly the sight of your Pavillon
Henry Fox Talbot
Laycock Abbey
Chippenham
Wiltshire
31 Sackville Street
London
Angleterre
Notes:
1. Henrietta Horatia Maria Gaisford, née Feilding (1810–1851), WHFT’s half-sister
2. Constance Talbot, née Mundy (1811–1880), WHFT’s wife.
3. Caroline Augusta Edgcumbe, née Feilding, Lady Mt Edgcumbe (1808–1881); WHFT’s half-sister.
4. John Talbot, 16th Earl Shrewsbury (1791–1852), and his wife Maria Theresa Talbot (1791–1856).
5. Maria Alethea Beatrix Talbot. Her husband was Prince Philip Andrew Landi.
6. Nice. [See Doc. No: 02744].
7. Rear Admiral Charles Feilding (1780–1837), Royal Navy; WHFT’s step-father.