Nizza di Mare
December 19th 1834
My dear Henry
Your letter gave me the greatest pleasure, as I began to think you & Constance <1> had totally forgotten me, & was afraid you neither of you meant ever to write to me again – I must begin by defending myself. I did not tell Mamma <2> you had not written to me last year after you left Nice, for I perfectly recollect all the different subjects you have recapitulated with so much care, though I doubt they were contained in as many different letters, but rather think they were condensed in two or three at most – What I did say was that you had not written to me since my departure from Nice, a space of 4 months, which to me seemed a very long one. – We had a rather dismal journey from Aix, as it rained almost continually while we were in the Maurienne – the places we slept at were Aignebelle, St Michel & Lanslebourg <3> – On approaching the last mentioned place, the wind was so strong that we felt it several times give the carriage a violent shove onwards – When we got there we found the different ruins full of travelers, & amongst others the Courier, waiting till the mountain should be passable – a Diligence that had crossed was only prevented from blowing over the precipice by being fastened with ropes to the railing – Numbers of stories of this kind we were told, wh could be easily believed judging from the wind down even in the valley – The oldest inhabitants of Lanslebourg never recollected such a hurricane – windows were broken & tiles hurled from the roofs – Our apartment was dismally cold but we were very lucky to get any, & were lulled to sleep by the howling of the storm, in the expectation of being called at 5, if the mountain should be declared passable – We got up by candle light & began toiling up at the same time as the other travelers were seen issuing from their different Inns – impression the scenery made upon me very different from the first time – did not recollect much beauty on Mt Cenis – but this time it struck me as peculiarly grand – it was in the right Ossianique state; with thin, transparent vapours flitting over the different crags, which were faintly lit by the sunbeams – I walked up nearly the whole way – at the top we found a clear blue sky – we only staid at Suza <4> a few minutes in order to see the triumphal arch & reached Turin the same evening a good day’s journey, n’est-ce-pas? – how this long journal deserves a long answer – in which I beg you will give me all the political news you can – a request I have often made before, but to which you have never condescended to pay the slightest attention – Addio caro fratello <5> – Horatia <6> desires me to say she was going to write today if I had not – She is a great deal better & plays & walzes almost comme de coutume <7> – Mamma & Papa <8> too & Ld V. & Bimbo <9> are all well at present – Love to Constance
Yr affte Sister
Caroline
Angleterre
W. H. Fox Talbot Esqr M. P.
Laycock Abbey
Chippenham
Wilts
Notes:
1. Constance Talbot, née Mundy (1811–1880), WHFT’s wife.
2. Lady Elisabeth Theresa Feilding, née Fox Strangways, first m Talbot (1773–1846), WHFT’s mother.
3. Lanslebourg–Mount–Cenis.
4. Now ‘Suse’.
5. Goodbye dear brother.
6. Henrietta Horatia Maria Gaisford, née Feilding (1810–1851), WHFT’s half-sister.
7. As usual.
8. Rear Admiral Charles Feilding (1780–1837), Royal Navy; WHFT’s step-father.
9. Ernest Augustus Edgcumbe, Lord Valletort, 3rd Earl of Mt Edgcumbe (1797–1861), WHFT’s brother-in-law, and William Henry Edgcumbe, ‘Val’, 4th Earl Mt Edgcumbe (1832–1917), JP & Ld Steward of the Royal Household; WHFT’s nephew ‘Bimbo’.