Lacock
23 April 1842
My dear Horatia
I hope Caroline <1> received my last letter – I shall expect to find her answer at Frankfort, which will determine my ulterior movements. If she must go by a different road from what I have conjectured (viz. by Munich) if she will only tell me with certainty what that road is, I will post myself in some principal town on it, & there await your arrival, for my mother considers it very unlikely you will stay at Florence longer than 8th May. The heat will drive you away, for it is very hot here today. Richard Quin & Mrs Q. <2> drove over from Bath today; they could not have had finer weather at any time, & the cuckoo sung [sic] for the first time to compliment them. I had not seen them since we parted at Milan nearly nine years ago. They are both in very poor health but cheerful. I am sorry to say that today we have a very indifferent account of poor dear Ly Ilchester, <3> we expect to hear from Lord I. again tomorrow. The Moores <4> are in great affliction on account of Russell’s <5> return home in a state of illness that almost precludes hope of recovery. They paid us a visit the week before he came (which was fortunate as to time) for they would not have enjoyed themselves if they had known how ill he then was. Of Tom <6> I believe they have no recent news, since he threw up his commission. I should think at this moment in India he might have obtained rapid promotion –
Our domestic economy is much disturbed by Mrs Bennet’s <7> illness, & Dr K. <8> does not anticipate her restoration to health in less than a month. In a few days my various affairs will I trust allow me to start – This is an extremely backward spring, but we have had nothing like snow, which seems to have been confined to the South of Europe. We have had a long continuance of dry weather, often very serene and brilliant; April showers have failed entirely to verify the adage. Anemonies [sic] & Tulips adorn the garden, the Narcissi are nearly over – Auriculas abundant in your garden, & the hyacinths there were very pretty. Pray give the enclosed printed paper to Amici <9> in reply to his enquiries respecting the mystery of Calotype. I have been making portraits lately, which I enclose. That of Ela and Matilda <10> is destined for Caroline; the others for Amici, with the dahlia and the objects on a table. But I have been too much occupied to profit duly by the favourable weather.
Your affte
Henry
My mother <11> is remarkably well; out all day gardening.
Mademoiselle Feilding
chez Madame la Comtesse
de Mount Edgcumbe
poste restante
Florence
Italy
Notes:
1. Caroline Augusta Edgcumbe, née Feilding, Lady Mt Edgcumbe (1808–1881); WHFT’s half-sister.
2. Windham Henry Wyndham-Quin, 2nd Earl of Dunraven and Mount-Earl (1782-1850); and his wife, Caroline, née Wyndham (d. 1870).
3. Juliana Maria Strangways, née Digby, Countess of Ilchester (d. 23 Sep 1842), 2nd wife of Henry Thomas Fox Strangways, 2nd Earl of Ilchester (1747-1802); WHFT's grandmother; 'Grand Mam', 'Granny'.
4. Thomas Moore (1780–1852), Irish poet, and his wife, Elizabeth (Bessie) Moore, née Dyke (1783–1865).
5. John Russell Moore (1823-1842), died in India; the son of Thomas Moore, the poet.
6. Thomas Lansdome Parr Moore (1818–1846), died in Algiers; son of Thomas Moore, the poet.
7. Servant.
8. Dr Kendrick, Talbot family doctor in Wiltshire.
9. Prof Giovanni Battista Amici (1786–1868), Italian optician & man of science.
10. Ela Theresa Talbot (1835–1893), WHFT’s 1st daughter and Matilda Caroline Gilchrist-Clark, ‘Tilly’, née Talbot (1839–1927), WHFT’s 3rd daughter.
11. Lady Elisabeth Theresa Feilding, née Fox Strangways, first m Talbot (1773–1846), WHFT’s mother.