TALBOT1277

Florence
June 21

My dear Henry

I think Kit ¹ is illadvised about sailing direct to Egypt, he had much better stop & take informations at Malta it is a very different thing from sailing from Oxwich to Barnstaple. They say Mahomet Ali ² is dead – he had better touch somewhere to find out the truth of this, as it will make a woundy ³ difference to Tourists in the land of Misr ⁴ if instead of the old cotton merchant they find his bigotted son ⁵ fresh from the slaughter of the Morea ⁶ & who thinks Christians no better than Wahabees. ⁷ Unless the quarantine is taken off which we hope for, I recommend him to go to Gibraltar, Tunis, Tripoli, Cyrene & Egypt – taking Malta in wherever he likes – or touching at Candia ⁸ or any isles. If the Quarantine is taken off before he comes out, he had better see the European parts first – M^r Baring ⁹ has built a very nice yacht at Leghorn with which he is going to sail about. He has promised to take me to Elba why does not Kit go to Charleston or Savannah if he wants a long stretch? He should go to the English Isles ¹⁰ first where there is no quarantine against England, & then step over to the nearest heathen shore he wants to see –

Y^rs
W T H F S

Henry Talbot Esq^r