Albano
Tuesday
4th 3rd July 1848
My dear Henry
I dare say you will be surprized to see this date after what I wrote A. <1> from Frascati but I fear you will be sadly disappointed when you hear how it is. We left this place Friday week, meaning as I told her, to embark in the Capri on the 25th. Poor Ld Mt E. <2> was very low indeed when it came to the parting as I feared he would – & I could not help regretting I had not persisted in my offer of staying with him, it seemed so dismal leaving him in that way & not very well either. However as I said we set off in the evg for Rome, where Charlie <3> was very feverish on arriving, but so well the next morning we proceeded to Civita vecchia – a long most tiresome road & it was so hot though chiefly in the night, that we were nearly melted. Just as we were preparing to embark, Charlie was seized with shivering fits, just like what he had at Palermo & it soon appeared impossible to think of setting out. Being therefore detained till the next steamer, C. <4> sent to Albano for Mrs Fayner, who arrived the next day & found him better – but Tuesday he was again feverish & very poorly & we began to fear it was going to be an intermittent fever like the one he had in the winter. However I am happy to say he has been improving since that & had no return – but looks very white & requires great care. Mr F. <5> brought a very dismal account of Ld Mt E. who had an attack of gout after we came away very much brought on he thought by that cause<.> C. could not bear to leave him in that state, & as the doctor gave his opinion that Charlie was not in a state to undertake such a long journey in the heat just now, unless it were a case of urgent necessity, she decided on returning here – the more so as it wd be now utterly impossible for her to reach London in time for the 18th wh was the Waiting she intended to catch – as the next (all August) is always Ly Canning’s <6> for the sailing month. She wrote therefore a deprecatory letter, setting forth all these circumstances, to the Dss of S. & said she meant to be in readiness for her 2nd Waiting on the 24th Septr so here we returned last night, from a most bootless expedition; & I am as far as ever fm any hopes of getting to England for the present at least. It was a great disappointment, after having been actually on the wing. Poor Wright <7> lamented himself extremely & as for Mrs King she declared she shd die if she staid any longer in this country – & she must go & see her old brother – so she went off with the [illegible] cook who undertook to escort her home – & here I am left without a maid, wh is exceedingly tiresome & don’t know how to get one. Lord Mt E. has been suffering a great deal & looks ill – I cannot regret that C. has returned to him – at any rate now her absence will be much shorter when she goes – but I fear you will all be disappointed at not seeing me, as well as Aunt L. <8> & some other friends. I wrote fm Civita vecchia to Jane <9> (at Lucca Baths) telling her of all our misadventures & enquiring if Mr N. <10> was still thinking of going to England some time in the summer, as he before offered to be of use to me in any way he could – & we might perhaps continue to go together if he did not mind coming so far to fetch me. He is very goodnatured & sociable & used to run about the world – else it seems rather too much to ask him to come all this way back. It is ages since we have heard fm any of you – latterly you might have expected to hear of our coming but before that you might have written. I trust you are all well but pray let us hear soon enclose to Mr McBean 93 Piazza di Spagna – that will be safest. Love to all
Yr aff
Horatia
Notes:
1. Amélina Petit De Billier, ‘Mamie’, ‘Amandier’ (1798–1876), governess and later close friend of the Talbot family [See Amélina's journal].
2. Ernest Augustus Edgcumbe, Lord Valletort, 3rd Earl of Mt Edgcumbe (1797–1861), WHFT’s brother-in-law.
3. Charles Earnest Edgcumbe (1838–1915), JP, WHFT’s nephew.
4. Caroline Augusta Edgcumbe, née Feilding, Lady Mt Edgcumbe (1808–1881); WHFT’s half-sister.
5. Mr Fayrer. [See Doc. No: 06188].
6. Charlotte, Viscountess Canning (1817–1861), lady-in-waiting to Queen Victoria.
7. James Wright, footman to the Talbots & Constable for Lacock.
8. Louisa Emma Petty Fitzmaurice, née Fox Strangways, Marchioness of Lansdowne (1785-1851), wife of Henry Petty Fitzmaurice, 3rd Marquess of Lansdowne; Lady of the Bedchamber to Queen Victoria, 1837-1838; WHFT's aunt.
9. Jane Harriot Nicholl, née Talbot (1796–1874).
10. Dr John Nicholl (1797–1853), MP.