TALBOT1403

London
14^th March 1826

You see I date anno domini ¹ in case you should stay away nine years like William Bankes. ² In that case I should endosser le costume d’un Mamelouk, ³ & track you on a Camel. I am better now, but was very bad the day you went. Si sapesti ô caro! quali angustie opprimano la mia anima, ⁴ you would give me great credit for having suppressed them. I received your letters ⁵ from Dover & Calais, which were all the comfort I could have, they have raised my spirits & enabled me to prepare for taking Caroline ⁶ to a ball to night at Lady Tankerville’s. ⁷ The Heavens have certainly hitherto smiled upon your journey, I never saw such fine weather as we have had every day since you went, & by the time it changes I hope you will be beyond the reach of our cloudy Skies & enjoying yourself in happier climes. a letter from William ⁸ which came the day after you went, advises us not to cross Westphalia in which he says the roads are a deep sand, the Inns bad, & nothing to see, & that the whole tract comprises every defect & désagrement ⁹ with which German travelling used to be reproached 50 years ago. I am sorry I did not let Lady Harriot Galwey ¹⁰ know of your approaching departure, her eldest son is at Corfu, & she might [illegible deletion] have had something or at least a message to send to him.

I have seen Sir C ¹¹– who I am now convinced will do all he can to hinder Isabella & Emma ¹² from coming to town this year. One of his arguments was that it would be an awkward thing for them to be in London if the Dissolution took place & he was forced to go & keep open House at Margam. ¹³ I did not think he had been so selfish. M^r M. ¹⁴ has not appeared yet, I rather think he will not come to town this Month. He is with his Sister in Surrey, a very pretty place which they have thoughts of selling & going abroad for some years. If it is at all like what I have heard it described, it is a place that would suit you. Pray write very often, if it is only to say you are got to such or such a point of your journey. However short, your Letters are quite sure of their effect here. L’appetit vient en mangeant ¹⁵ so I hope I shall grow to like London better in a week or two, but at present je me sens un degoût inexprimable ¹⁶ for all its well known stale flat & unprofitable dissipations, for pleasure would be a word trop deplacé ¹⁷ here.

Felice te! – Te nove sorti aspettano in più beato loco! ¹⁸

ΧαΙΡΕ ¹⁹

Ζωη και ψυχη ²⁰

William has a plan for meeting us at Cracovie which he seems to think is only a hop step & jump

W. H. Fox Talbot Esq^r
Corfu