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Document number: 4497
Date: Thu 28 Apr 1842
Recipient: TALBOT William Henry Fox
Author: EDGCUMBE Caroline Augusta, née Feilding
Collection: British Library, London, Manuscripts - Fox Talbot Collection
Collection number historic: LA42-26
Last updated: 15th February 2012

Florence.
Thursday April 28th 1842

My dear Henry

I received your letter <1> of the 18th this morning, in which you announce your intention of setting out in 10 days; if you are exact therefore, you will depart this very day; by which means you will miss a letter I wrote to Mamma <2> on the 23rd saying that we should stay here till the 15th May – I hope however this will meet you at Frankfort, in time to prevent your staying with Uncle Wm <3> as long as you both wd like – It is a very cruel case to be so hunted & pressed for time as one always is – but it seems to me your only chance of finding us here, is to come on immediately; our present intentions being to leave this on the 15th & no later, for reasons of health as you know – it would be getting hot for the children afterwds & Ernest <4> wants to have the Baths as soon as he can – at the same time you well know also that it is impossible with his health ever to fix a day positively – but such are our intentions; by our putting off till the 15th you gain a week – & if you arrive by that time, & we should be unexpectedly detained longer, we shall at any rate have the pleasure of seeing something of you – Before I forget it, remember to enquire for us Casa Laggerswärd (it is a Swedish name) Borgo la Croce, close to the Porta Sa Croce, 2o piano <5> – where we have a spare room for you. – I hope I explain everything as clearly as you wish, tho’ I cannot pretend to do so with the conciseness of wh you gave sundry examples in yr letter. – We mean to go by Verona, the Tyrol, over the Brenner, by Innspruck [sic] to Munich – so you made a marvellous good guess – I individually had a great wish to cross the Stilvio, wh wd equally have taken us to Munich – but that is out of the question they say, as it is not likely to be open for a month to come, being the highest of all the passes – 8000 & odd – at any rate, open or not, Ernest will not entertain the notion of it at all; & he says that shd you be too late to catch us here, you cannot fail meeting us on the road between this & Munich, or at Munich – tho’ it wd hardly be prudent to wait there, as there is no telling what might befall us on the road to detain us – The greatest difficulty lies in the affair of the carriage, as Horatia <6> cannot buy one here till you come, (tho’ we know of 2 or 3 pretty good barouches & brizkas to be had;) we cannot add another to our train of 4 carriages – we shd be continually stopped for want of horses, besides the useless expence to Horatia as long as she can travel with us – Ernest advises you should buy one at Munich & bring it with you – But the best plan is to come here in time – Ernest has just told me that if you cd not manage to be here by the 15th he wd stay half a week longer to enable you to arrive – but that if you possibly ca cd do so, he hopes you will, as it will be an inconvenience to him stayg beyond the 15th I hope at any rate you will be able to nick it somehow – Ernest is better a good deal & drives out – We have had a few people to dinner two or three times – & been to the french play – Give my best love & Horatia’s to Uncle Wm Tell him we saw Ct Zamoiski <7> who dined with us one day on his way to Nice via Paris –

Yr very affte Sister
Caroline

On a rough calculation I think we cannot be less than 11 or 12 days getting to Munich at the quickest We will write to Munich –

Notes:

1. Letter not located.

2. Lady Elisabeth Theresa Feilding, née Fox Strangways, first m Talbot (1773–1846), WHFT’s mother.

3. William Thomas Horner Fox Strangways, 4th Earl of Ilchester (1795–1865), botanist, art collector & diplomat.

4. Ernest Augustus Edgcumbe, Lord Valletort, 3rd Earl of Mt Edgcumbe (1797–1861), WHFT’s brother-in-law.

5. 2nd floor (3rd American)- the secondo piano nobile or 2nd second principal floor.

6. Henrietta Horatia Maria Gaisford, née Feilding (1810–1851), WHFT’s half-sister.

7. Misspelling of Count Wladyslaw Zamoyski (1803–1868), Polish patriot who came to live in London, where he was involved in the emigré organisation set up by his uncle, Prince Adam Czartoryski, to work for a free Poland.

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