Nice
5th May 1835
My dearest Henry
A thousand times do I wish you & Constance <1> joy of the happy event! <2> We had been looking anxiously for the welcome tidings every post day for the last three weeks, & wondering at the delay– & now the little creature is actually born. I somehow felt as delighted & surprised as if nothing of the sort had been expected – I hope you will not fail to write again immediately, to let us know how Constance is going on & what Ela is like –
I wish I could tell you what was likely to become of us this summer, but alas! That is impossible at present – We had intended as you know, to return to England, leaving Nice about this time, & going by way of Aix – but Ld Valletort’s <3> unceasing gout leaves very little hope that we shall be able to set out before it is too late for me to think of undertaking such a long journey – He has been ill now more than four months – several times he has appeared to be getting well, & each time has had a relapse, which I attribute to the constant Easterly winds – it is most melancholy & trying to the spirits – & I am in constant admiration at the patience with which he bears it – He is at this moment in bed, tolerably easy, though he has had a miserable night – you could hardly imagine how thin he is grown – A few days must now decide our plans, as if he is not well enough to travel in a fortnight, we must then determine to spend the summer here It is just post time, & I have only time left to beg you to write by return of post, to tell me two things – The first, whether Constance is sufficiently pleased with Mrs Wilkes <4> to be worth while my sending for her all the way to Nice – & the second, to whether she would be willing to co[me]<5> abroad so far as this; being nearly don[e] the journey she took last year to Geneva – I must know this in time to be able to settle with somebody or other, if we determine to stay on here – so pray answer immediately
Give my best love to dear Constance & a kiss to Ela –
Ever yr affte Sister
Caroline
Angleterre
W. Henry Fox Talbot Esqr
31 Sackville Street
London
Notes:
1. Constance Talbot, née Mundy (1811–1880), WHFT’s wife.
2. The birth of Ela Theresa Talbot (1835–1893), WHFT’s 1st daughter.
3. Ernest Augustus Edgcumbe, Lord Valletort, 3rd Earl of Mt Edgcumbe (1797–1861), WHFT’s brother-in-law.
4. Nurse.
5. Written off the edge of page.