Villa Beaulieu
Cannes
Sunday 15th March 1868
My dear Henry
I was rather in hopes we should have met you at Cox’s Hotel, as it is your usual haunt. We went there from Mt E. <1> on the 4th & left it again by mail train for Dover on Friday the 6th & slept at the Lord Warden. On Saturday we crossed by the French mail Steamer at ½ p. 9 & had an Excellent passage of 1h & 35m to Calais – & thence to Paris – arriving at 6h. We slept at the Hotel Westminster, R. de la Paix – & started again Sunday Evg at 8-40, travelling all night, wh I hate – but some night travelling one must have, owing to the extremely inconvenient arrangemts of the French trains. We reached Lyons at 7-40 A.M. & as it would have been too stupid to go to bed after breakfast, we drove about the Town, & went to see a silk & velvet manufacture – very interesting & curious, but difficult to understand. It takes 2 or 3 days to set a loom for a complicated damask pattern – & if the velvet requires 2 days to make one metre – so no wonder it is so expensive. We also saw the confluence of the Rhône & Saône – but they no longer come rushing wildly together as formerly – for they have built a long digue <2> to keep the Rhône off for a considerable distance – so that they glide one into another without the smallest effect. That night we went to bed early & got up on Tuesday, the 10th at 3 in the morning –! was not that enterprising? We started at 5, & reached Cannes at 5-20 in the afternoon. It was wet, foggy & miserable at Lyons – but after Avignon it became warm, sunny & blue. – We are staying with Val <3> which is a charming arrangement. He & the 4 children are extremely flourishing. Katie <4> is pretty well – & went with us yesterday to a morning concert given by English amateurs, for the benefit of the Hospice. She is really better this winter – & attributes her improvement partly to the Eaux Bonnes last summer. Ernestine <5> found a letter here from Rosamond, <6> from Genoa – & wrote to her there in return; & yesterday I received one from Amandier <7> dated the 4th of March, also from Genoa – It had gone to Cotehele, <8> & came back here. They seem quite delighted with the Corniche, & with Genoa itself. When are you coming out – & wh road shall you take? There are lovely tea roses in flower here – white & red – geraniums, pansies & a lovely sort of yellow acacia – This will not go till tomorrow.
Monday
If not too heavy, I shall send an atom of the yellow Acacia. What is its name? The small pink Mesems. are coming out today.
Ever Yr affte Sister
Caroline
[envelope:]
Angleterre
Henry Fox Talbot Esqre.
Laycock Abbey
Chippenham
Notes:
1. Mt Edgecumbe, near Plymouth: seat of the Earl of Mt Edgcumbe.
2. Barrier.
3. William Henry Edgcumbe, ‘Val’, 4th Earl Mt Edgcumbe (1832–1917), JP & Ld Steward of the Royal Household; WHFT’s nephew ‘Bimbo’.
4. Lady Katherine Elizabeth Edgcumbe, née Hamilton (1840–1874), wife of William Henry Edgcumbe.
5. Ernestine Emma Horatia Edgcumbe (1843-1925), WHFT’s niece.
6. Rosamond Constance ‘Monie’ Talbot (1837–1906), artist & WHFT’s 2nd daughter.
7. Amélina Petit De Billier, ‘Mamie’, ‘Amandier’ (1798–1876), governess and later close friend of the Talbot family [See Amélina's journal].
8. Cotehele, Cornwall: ancient house, seat of the Earl of Mt Edgcumbe, now a National Trust Property.