Lacock
5th Decr 1848
My dear Horatia
You desire us not to be alarmed about you, but we are very uneasy notwithstanding your assurances and were extremely glad to learn today from C’s letter <1> of the 24th that your old friend and support in adversity Capt. Key <2> was arrived with his bulldog – The sight of him must have done you good. I advise you to leave Rome as soon as you conveniently can, and all things considered I think the best place you can go to for the winter is Nice. Thence it is easy for you to retire into France if there are disturbances in the Sardinian states, & on the other hand into the Genoese territory should the career of the new President of France be marked with troubles as it is probable it will more or less. Another plan but probably a too adventurous one, would be to go to Corfu viâ Malta (for that is the only via by which you could manage it) – You would find Corfu a singularly beautiful island and in the early spring a very delightful residence – It is in full view of the continent of Greece which is composed of very lofty mountains. Zante is also a very beautiful island and nearer to Malta – That I think would give you the great sine quâ non <3> of an undisturbed residence – A British Governor <4> resides at Corfu with the power of an autocrat and a sufficient garrison to keep Her Majesty’s <5> peace from being broken by any of the race of pseudopatriots – I don’t know how many days voyage it is but I think six; three from C. Vcchia to Malta, and the like to Corfu, but five would probably be found sufficient. – We are thinking next winter of trying some southern climate for our healths, but the great difficulty is to find one that is free from civil war and disturbance – Egypt has got a new ruler Abbas Pacha. <6> I am sure Car. does not regret Ibrahim <7> next to whom she was seated at dinner at Windsor last year and had an opportunity of forming her opinion of him – We shall see soon whether Abbas Pacha is disposed to be civil to the English who repair to Egypt. – We also talk of Madeira, to say nothing of places more remote, for we have even elevated our ideas to St Vincent’s in the W. Indies – Tell me what you think of it, and whether you think Milord <8> if he resolves upon another winter in the South would be inclined to participate in the same idea with us, of a somewhat longer flight than usual. That many English families will do so I think probable, for they have acquired the habits of Swallows of hybernal migration and if frightened from the Italian shores by the red caps of liberty and the shouts of Social Fraternity they will fly on to a quieter and remoter spot, Egypt or Zante or Ceylon. O that I were a cinnamon planter! taking my coffee in a bungalow overshaded by tamarind trees, with a learned Pundit expounding to me the meaning of a Pali <9> manuscript, and a distant view of Adam’s Peak and the Sugar Candy Mountains of the interior – Adieu, write very often –
Your affte
Henry
Notes:
1. Probably Caroline Augusta Edgcumbe, née Feilding, Lady Mt Edgcumbe (1808–1881); WHFT’s half-sister. Her letter has not located.
2. Sir Astley Cooper Key (1821–1888), admiral; commanded the Bulldog steamer in the Mediterranean, 1847–1850.
3. Essential.
4. Corfu was under British occupation from 1815 to 1864.
5. Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom (1837–1901), Empress of India (1876–1901).
6. Abbas Pacha (1813–1854), ruled Egypt from 1848 to 1854.
7. Ibrahim Pasha (1789–1848), Egyptian general, and uncle of Abbas Pacha.
8. Ernest Augustus Edgcumbe, Lord Valletort, 3rd Earl of Mt Edgcumbe (1797–1861), WHFT’s brother-in-law.
9. Sacred language of the Theravada Buddhist canon of Indian origin.