TALBOT2971

Les Délices
9^th August

My Dear Henry

How very extraordinary that nobody writes to us, if it was not for Lord V’s ¹ letters I should think England was engloutie dans les Vagues. ² The morning we left Besançon where I had given up all hopes from you, we called at the Poste aux lettres ³ in our way out of the town & found one from you, which was a great pleasure. Caroline ⁴ is most flourishing & her bimbi. ⁵ Her villa is very near, but not so large or roomy as this. Many of Voltaire’s ⁶ letters are dated from here, it is a celebrated place. We have plenty of room for you & Constance ⁷ & I wish you would come au plus vîte ⁸ & not lose all the fine weather before you set out. Two months of this house was wasted before we got here. We have it to the first of November, but we shall not stay so long, as this climate ne vaut rien pour Horatia dans l’automne. ⁹ at present it is intensely hot which disagrees with M^r F. ¹⁰ & makes him bilious. Quant à moi ¹¹ I like the heat & the place, & the allée verte ¹² in which to cool myself pendant les grandes chaleurs du jour, ¹³ with a charming view of the Lake, the Rhine, & the Alps. There are very large pomegranates in bloom & myrtles & Oleanders, all in tubs, & they are kept all the winter (which is often severe) in a large sort of barn or outhouse without light, which the Gardener says does just as well. Now in England they think if they have not a conservatory or at least a proper Green house, it is in vain to attempt having large plants through the Winter but as they sleep during that season they do not require light till the Spring, & then out they come & blow & flourish, instead of letting green house plants die down in the winter immense Geraniums are treated here in the same manner, which I think is worthy of adoption. We gathered some plants coming over the Jura which I take care of till you come. Two Wright dug up with the penknife & we have put them in pots, in hopes of your approbation. I see by Galignani ¹⁴ that things in England are going au rebours, ¹⁵ & nobody seems to have cause to be pleased but the King of Ireland, ¹⁶ the Demon of agitation. Are you still frequenting that hot & unwholsome [sic] H. of commons? It w^d be better for y^r health to be culling simples on the Jura. How we envied you drinking tea in the cloisters! When shall I see them? Il me paroît un siècle que je les ai quitté ¹⁷ & yet it is not yet a month by the Kalender [sic]. Horatia is anxious to try les bains d’Aix en Savoie, ¹⁸ they are so much recommended for her sort of case, if she goes there for 3 weeks as she wishes I shall remain here, as apartments are at present so scarce there, it being the fullest season, that we should not get one to hold us all. It is only 45 miles from here & we shall in that case divide the family.

aff^ly y^rs
EF

Direct poste restante Genève en Suisse. We came the road you recommended by S^t Cergue & down the new winding road of the Jura to Nyon. tell me of some short tour that would suit my faculties, worth seeing & not fatiguing.

Caroline complains you never write to her. You might as well. We have not had the smallest word from anybody, not even Amandier. ¹⁹ Tell me something about dear Laycock. How pretty it must be now looking in this good weather.

Unless you come soon it would really be hardly worth while as I think H. & M^r F. will go to Aix about the 20^th and so you would miss the greatest part of her.

Henry Fox Talbot Esq^r
31. Sackville Street
London
Angleterre