TALBOT3039

Nice
2^d Januar^y

My Dear Henry

Mille grazie ¹ for the very amusing pasquinade ² you sent us & for the part dear Constance ³ took the trouble of copying, which tho’ we had an abridgement of the same a few days before in Galignani. ⁴ I was not the less obliged for, as the intention was si aimable. ⁵ Yesterday just as we were sitting down to dinner with a large company pour fêter la nouvelle année ⁶ on Estorforth arrived from Cannes With a letter to M^r. F. ⁷ from Lord Brougham ⁸ who had not heard of the cordon de Santé ⁹ when he left Paris & was most indignant at learning that he was not suffered to enter Les Etats Sardis ¹⁰ without a Quarantine of 31 days performed at Ville Franche, which he must reach either by Sea attended by officers from the Uffizio di Sanita ¹¹ or Surrounded by a guard if he goes by land, to prevent speech or contact with the inhabitants. The Man Lord B. procured at Cannes to bring his express is a desperate smuggler (nobody else would undertake it) and was twice shot at on crossing the Var. M^r. F. Immediately went to all the authorities & the governor & President were willing to shorten the Quarantine, but the old Queen Marie Christine de Naples ¹² who is dreadfully afraid of the cholera would not consent. This will prevent our having any accession of society, and the loss of Lord Brougham’s is most vexative, for even his enemies allow his powers of conversation & Lord V. ¹³ regrets him as much as we do. An resto we are not dull at all, and I fear Horatia ¹⁴ will find England flat after the excitement of this sort of life as every evening brings its amusement but the hours are so early that she is always in bed & asleep by one o’clock think of that! Our soirées begin at 8 which is a giant agrément ¹⁵ I am delighted to see her dance again & enjoy herself without danger of fatigue & without keeping the absurdly late hour of London. She is at this moment [dres?] her costume for a Fancy Ball I am to give next Thursday, & what is among not the least agreeable circumstances is that all this amusement costs less than leading the most hugger mugger life in England. Mr. F was glad to hear of Mr. Kindrich that poor Betty V. ¹⁶ was not forgot at Xmas. a Letter he received (not from Wiltshire) says you are thought firm. – I suppose that must be because you do not attend County meetings &c. &c.– I do not think your Constituents deserve much at your hands if they have sold themselves to Boldero ¹⁷ & C^o. nor should I care much what they say or think but I should be vexed if you were thought so by the Southerners of the County, & I often regret so few of them Know you from a certain repugnance you have always had to meetings where you would naturally have become acquainted, & in that I doubt not has originated the accusation of finess &c.

How very kind of Mrs Mundy ¹⁸ to invite Amandier. ¹⁹ Has Kit ²⁰ been in Ireland? I have not heard from him since I came abroad.

H.F. Talbot Esq.
Laycock Abbey
Chippenham
Wiltshire
Angleterre