Palermo
Wednesday 8th Decr 1847
My dear Henry
Here is another post day arrived & no letter from any at Laycock – indeed you use me very badly all of you, but you worst of all, for I have never heard from you all this time but once at Genoa! It is enough to dishearten one from writing & yet I know you will be troubled if we give it up & fancy something has happened to us. Caroline <1> wrote to Constance <2> last post & told her of her arrival here at last, having been at Rome lucky girl & enjoyed her long journey very much tho’ she had no companion but the children. We are not yet yet settled, as it was so difficult to get comfortable lodgings in this place, for so large a family, especially – but it is at length arranged that we are to have an apartment in the Palace of Prince Scordia, next door to this Hotel the rooms opening on a terrace overlooking the Marina but it will be a week I daresay before it is furnished & ready to receive us. I am glad we are not to be at the V. Belmonte, as tho’ the view is beautiful it wd have been difficult to lodge us all comfortably, & it is a very disagreeable access from the town, all round the port among soldiers, convicts & all sorts of low company so that it wd have been impossible for ladies ever to walk except within the precincts & hardly safe even for men to be coming home late if half the stories one hears are true. The day C. arrived there was a great deal of excitement, rassemblemens <3> of people waiting for news fm Naples – there had been rows at the Theatre for 2 nights & something more was expected, & there were accordingly patrols all about the streets nobody allowed to talk together, & the theatre shut up wh seems an odd way of preventing people thinking of mischief by taking depriving them of amusement. However it all seems very quiet for the present. There was a requisition sent a little while ago by the English merchants to Malta for a man of war, & one morning we distinctly saw one in the offing, & hoped it was the Superb come to look after us, but it was blowing hard on shore & she disappeared again & has been no more seen & remains a mystery. We have made acquaintance at last with Uncle W’s <4> friend, Duca Serra di Falco, who is very pleasant, intelligent & good natured – He invited us today to see a procession from his windows in the Strada Toledo – His house is very pretty & well furnished with abundance of flowers, pictures &c. He also got us good places in the church for the funzione, <5> at which the Viceroy assisted, seated on a throne, & the Sena[tors?] in picturesque shapes, some with real Velasquez heads. There are plenty of subjects for sketches here both buildings & people without end. I am still however at a loss to think what the wonderful charm of Palermo is to make people rave as they have done about it. I often wish for you to tell us the names of the outlandish trees & flowers one meets at every turn, tho’ the Botanical garden is shut up for the winter, & we have not yet got leave to have it opened. There are a row of trees on the Marina something like mulberries with red blossoms of a leguminous nature.
The climate is not like Italy, bright & clear, at least generally since we have been here it has been muggy & relaxing but very warm. We have hardly ever lit a fire & are wearing summer clothing – There are geraniums, plumbagos, carnations &c in flower & green peas & other vegetables like summer. I think it wd suit Constance much better than me. I hope Ela <6> is really improving under Dr W’s <7> system pray do not leave us so long in the dark about you all. Herr Graulich has not yet made his appearance – Val <8> awaits it without much impatience. Charlie <9> has had a feav feaverish attack for some days but is getting slowly better. Adieu dear Henry hoping soon for an answer
Yr aff sister
Horatia
Henry Fox Talbot Esqre
Laycock Abbey
Chippenham
Wilts
Angleterre
viâ Marseilles
Inghilterra
Notes:
1. Caroline Augusta Edgcumbe, née Feilding, Lady Mt Edgcumbe (1808–1881); WHFT’s half-sister.
2. Constance Talbot, née Mundy (1811–1880), WHFT’s wife.
3. Gatherings.
4. William Thomas Horner Fox Strangways, 4th Earl of Ilchester (1795–1865), botanist, art collector & diplomat.
5. Ceremony.
6. Ela Theresa Talbot (1835–1893), WHFT’s 1st daughter.
7. Dr Watson.
8. William Henry Edgcumbe, ‘Val’, 4th Earl Mt Edgcumbe (1832–1917), JP & Ld Steward of the Royal Household; WHFT’s nephew ‘Bimbo’.
9. Charles Earnest Edgcumbe (1838–1915), JP, WHFT’s nephew.