Lacock
June 19th 1849
My dear Horatia
I am so glad you are returned at last – You have been very lucky in escaping what might have been a terrible émeute <1> at Paris – Ledru Rollin <2> & his friends intended nothing less than a reign of terror.
It is blowing a gale from the S.W. You would have had a very rough passage today. Caroline <3> put off her coming to the last minute, and I expected she would have been 2 or 3 days too late. I suppose Milord’s <4> stoppage at Vichy was partly in order to enable C. to arrive in time for her waiting. <5>
Yours affly
Henry
Notes:
1. Riot.
2. Alexandre Auguste Ledru-Rollin (1807–1874), lawyer and politician. In June 1849 he attempted a failed insurrection against the government of Louis Napoleon.
3. Caroline Augusta Edgcumbe, née Feilding, Lady Mt Edgcumbe (1808–1881); WHFT’s half-sister.
4. Ernest Augustus Edgcumbe, Lord Valletort, 3rd Earl of Mt Edgcumbe (1797–1861), WHFT’s brother-in-law.
5. She was lady-in-waiting to Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom (1837–1901), Empress of India (1876–1901).