TALBOT1546

Brussels
9^th March 1827

My Dear Mother

I had resolved, in case I found no letter here, to send Giovanni ¹ express to England, and repose a few days till he brought me some account of you. I arrived here the 6^th and found no letter I lost no time in despatching Giovanni, only desiring him to enquire for letters at Calais, which I confess I considered a forlorn hope, after such repeated disappointments; however to my great joy he returned with a letter this afternoon.

I took every precaution; I wrote long ago to Rotterdam and to Dresden to forward my letters, as well as leaving word at the Berlin post office; but all that was forwarded to me were five newspapers. I could do no otherwise than conclude that no letters had been written to me there.

The return of spring was the most sudden I ever witnessed; Scirocco and floods of rain immediately after such excessive cold, for the last days of winter were much the severest. At Potsdam [illegible deletion] 18^th February at breakfast time the thermometer marked zero, or 32 below freezing. After breakfast I visited Sans Souci, and the cold did not prevent me from admiring the Picture Gallery.

The next day was also very cold, inside my carriage the Th. was only 6⁰ and we had to walk in the snow a good deal as the carriage threatened to upset and the road was not plain to see. But between Cassel and Dusseldorf the difficulty exceeded any I ever met with in any travels. I was three days going halfway, viz to Arensburg; and on one of those days I only advanced a relai and a half, being obliged to stop the night before at a small village called Constein. The snow was in one place 12 feet deep overtopping the roof of the Carriage. The débacle of the Rhine was one of the finest sights imaginable it detained me a day. The ice and snow rushing down that rapid stream in vast shapeless masses, so crowded as nearly to hide the water had quite a terrific appearance. I was obliged next day to go round by Cologne to cross the river, and it was [an?] ² affair of near two hours delay there.

Your Aff^te Son
W.H.F. Talbot

Write to me here Hotel Bellevue: I think I shall stay some time hereabouts.

Lady E. Feilding
1 Brunswick Terrace
Brighton
Angleterre