TALBOT1434

Florence
May 18^th 1826

My Dear Mother

I arrived here last night, and heard from William ¹ the melancholy news ² from Harrow, which shocked me so much that I can think of nothing else. I just write this line to let you know I am here, & have not decided how long to stay; I am waiting for letters I expect from you.–

I find William has not received a letter I wrote here from Zante an age ago. The post in these parts is very treacherous – I should not be surprized if several of my letters to you have strayed.

I told you that nothing could be more prosperous than our return to Ancona, we were only 2 days & 2 hours, the weather quite calm; a steam voyage of that description is certainly the most convenient of all ways of travelling. We got off with 8 days quarantine, which I did not find an inconvenience having a great many things to arrange & settle, which made me glad of a little leisure. I came by Loretto and the Apennines & Foligno. I have been walking in Boboli with William, & strolling in the Gallery where I recognise the pictures as if they were Old friends. The luxuries of the capital are doubly agreeable after the privations & discomforts which one encounters while hunting for the picturesque in the Ionian Islands –

Your aff^te Son
H.T.

Lady E. Feilding
31 Sackville Street
London