San Bartolomeo
3 Septembre
My Dear Henry
The interior cordons in Piedmont are taken off, & I seem to breathe more freely. You have no idea of the oppression of lungs it gives to feel oneself in a cage & surrounded by what one wishes to run away from. The cause of this new order from the King is that Cholera is so universal now all over the Sardinian states that it quite [sic] a farce to keep them up. He is himself in the midst of it in his Palace at Raconizi, & les fuyards <1> from Genoa will probably carry it all over Italy, for it is there in its very worst form. In the first fifteen days there were 1764 deaths! our cholera sinks into nothing by that, but it still continues in its pettifogging way at Nice 4 or 5 deaths every day; but diminuendo <2>. No wonder they are escaping from Genoa in every direction, & the danger here is that they will bring a reinforcement of mephitic <3> air, as has happened at Marseilles & Toulon where it broke out again from that cause after having entirely subsided. Ergo – it appears that nothing can prevent the cholera, but many things may be done to add to its force. As it is now on every road from this place & only a choice of evils, the V’s <4> have decided to [go to?] <5> the col de Tende to Turin, Ivrea, by the Lago Maggiore, over St Gothard to Lucerne & so by Zurich & the Schwartzwald to Strasbourg & Paris. When once en Suisse <6> they are safe, the Alps have hitherto formed a barrier the cholera cannot pass. On verra par la suite. <7> They want me to travel with them, but we should perhaps be stopped for want of horses with so many carriages, & the Inns on that road contain so few good beds that we could not all be comfortably lodged. Besides I should like staying longer at Turin & other places where there is anything to be seen, & Lord V. is naturally desirous of reaching England before the winter damp & fogs – & I wish neither to gêner <8> others, or be so myself. Neither shall I be ready to set off as soon as they do for I cannot go without Gwynne, <9> & she has been & is a great source of uneasiness. about a month ago she had the Cholerine which it seems is frequent in seasons when the cholera prevails, & is attributed to some peculiar state of the atmosphere. She appeared to have recovered that, & went with a party to see the Valobscur, the cold of those dripping rocks in an intense hot evening gave some chill which brought on a sort of East Indian dysentery, & she is so extremely ill that we have the English Physician Dr Harrington & Surgeon Mr Bowling to sleep in the house every night & relieve each other alternately. I cannot but feel a great deal when I think of her long & faithful service, for more than one & twenty years, & that she has given us all the best years of her life & strength, and only been too zealous & exhausted herself too much for our interest. They say she [is now?] <10> out of danger, but certainly to unmedical Eyes she appears to be as ill as it is possible to be without being actually in articulo mortis. <11> It is the most difficult thing to procure a Nurse for her, they are so persuaded it is the cholera that nothing will bribe them to come, & they have such a dread of it that I believe many have died of it entirely from want of assistance. At first the Nissard Physicians attended their patients in surtouts <12> of pitch cloth with holes for the Eyes, but the King was so angry he had them destitués, <13> which has given the others more courage. While Gwynne continues so, of course I cannot form any plan or fix any day for my departure but I should hope it will be about the end of this month, & October is excellent for travelling. I have not yet settled which road to take have you any plan to suggest? for it is a pity to go Eleven hundred miles & see nothing new. I hope soon to have your answer about Amandier <14> – I fear she will be driven to despair if she spends another winter at Brunoy. If she goes with me to England she could pass part of the time at Hopwood. [illegible deletion] Always one contretems <15> or another has hindered my enjoying this beautiful place, but we do sit out among the cypresses by Moonlight & wander in the Olive woods that clothe the mountains, & contemplate through the grapes the calm & blue mediterranean. Had we all been happy here we should have thought this a most delicious place. Caroline <16> is still much depressed & more nervous than she ever was in her life before however she is much comforted to see the effects of this air upon Bimbo, <17> & it does seem difficult to imagine how disease can exist sous ce beau ciel. <18> The spirit of Evil creeps in & mars all this loveliness. The last time I ever saw poor Angioj <19> was in the Acqua [illegible] at Genoa, where he took leave of us on our departure in May 1824, when we were going to Venice. He has been much regretted particularly by the [illegible] guardia <20>. I have put your seeds & bulbs (I mean yr commission for them) into the hands of Verani, the only naturalist here, & he is cheifly [sic] an Ornithologist. Risso fled long ago for fear of la maladie <21> as they emphatically call the cholera, which topic engrosses everybody’s thoughts. The General declined buying an English horse of Lord V’s which he had been in treaty for, because he said the cholera would prevent the Royal Reviews this year. In short there is nothing you can name which it does not enter in to & influence somehow or other. Are you sure that l’orfano <22> is too old for the cape of Good Hope?
W. H. Talbot Esqr
Laycock abbey
Chippenham
Wilts
Post office <23>
Aberystwith [sic]
South Wales
Angleterre
Notes:
1. Those who are fleeing.
2. Decreasing.
3. Pestilential.
4. Ernest Augustus Edgcumbe, Lord Valletort, 3rd Earl of Mt Edgcumbe (1797–1861), WHFT’s brother-in-law.
5. Text obscured by ink.
6. In Switzerland.
7. We’ll see in due course.
8. Restrict.
9. Mrs Gwynne (d. winter 1841/1842), lady’s maid, cook and housekeeper to Elisabeth Feilding.
10. Text obscured by ink.
11. On the point of death.
12. Over-garments.
13. Dismissed.
14. Amélina Petit De Billier, ‘Mamie’, ‘Amandier’ (1798–1876), governess and later close friend of the Talbot family [See Amélina's journal].
[See Doc. No: 03121]. From June 1828 - September 1831, Amélina was a companion to the family of Robert Gregge-Hopwood (1773-1854) and the Hon. Cecelia, née Byng, daughter of John Byng, 5th Viscount Torrington, at their home of Hopwood Hall, between Middleton and Rochdale, Lancaster.15. Difficulty.
16. Caroline Augusta Edgcumbe, née Feilding, Lady Mt Edgcumbe (1808–1881); WHFT’s half-sister.
17. William Henry Edgcumbe, ‘Val’, 4th Earl Mt Edgcumbe (1832–1917), JP & Ld Steward of the Royal Household; WHFT’s nephew ‘Bimbo’.
18. Under this lovely sky.
19. See Doc. No: 07202.
20. [illegible] guards.
21. The illness.
22. The orphan boy. [See Doc. No: 03119].
23. Readdressed.