TALBOT3104

Mentone ¹
Saturday June 27^th 1835.

My dear Henry

Many thanks for having executed my commission so faithfully & expeditiously – The biscuits were only 3 weeks en route which is marvellously quick if they came by the roulage, ² which I suspect they did not, & they were not molested by the Douaniers ³ – Moreover they arrived just in the nick of time, 23^rd June; for the very next day the Cholera was declared to be at Toulouse & the Cordon & Quarantine reinstated with renewed vigour – I hope I shall be able to do your commission as punctually – but it is not easy to find an intelligent man who knows anything about gardening – however I began to put the affair en train ⁴ & left it in Mamma’s ⁵ hands when we came away – We have been here three days – we decided upon this as the most eligible pace in the environs for change of air, principally for Bimbo, ⁶ who was grown wretchedly thin & pale, owing to teething & hot weather – We were told Mentone was the hottest place of the two; but have found it quite otherwise – It happened to be a very windy day when we arrived, & we began by taking a famous air bath passing over the mountains of the Tour Bie – & here we found the air perfectly delicious – soft yet cooling & bracing – I have none of the languid & feels[?] I had at Nice, & L^d V. ⁷ & Bimbo are much improved for the change – How very picturesque Esa & Biccabruna are! I thought the approach to Mentone quite lovely – it struck me much more than the first time The approach is through an avenue of Plane trees with Olœanders in full bloom planted between each – & there is a beautiful drive up a valley about a mile long, planted in the same way, with a perfectly smooth road – The most brilliant ornaments of the Corniche just now are the pink Convolvolus, (large,) & a species of delicate pink Mallow which looks at first sight like a Convolvulus Also the beautiful pink Pea, which grows in gardens i[n]⁸ England – On a grassy place on the beach I found a wild Stock, of a pale lilac, with a strong smell like the Garden Stock – & in the ditches & wild places near the roads innumerable marvals of Peru, some in flower bud which you w^d not believe were really wild, when you were here before – In the corner of a field I found one patch of a plant which grows in greenhouses or hothouses with us – I don’t know the name, but it has large, shining, green leaves with a beautiful Scarlet blossom, looking at first sight like the Canna Indica – The seeds are made into rosarys –

I discovered lately a circumstance which M^r Bowles ⁹ ought to have introduced into his history of Laycock – that William Longespee’s ¹⁰ marriage was brought about by the agency of William Talbot, ¹¹ who contrived, by means of his minstrelsy, to introduce himself into the Castle in Normandy, in which Ela ¹² was concealed by her friends. – I wish you would write to me again soon, tell me how Constance & Ela the younger ¹³ are, since their Séjour in the country.

July 2^nd this has been written many days, & I have not yet contrived to send it – We are still at Mentone, but go tomorrow – I to Nice, & L^d V. to Lucca, to consult a famous Homœopathe –

This place improves upon one every day – it is really lovely nothing can be more delicious than the woods of enormous Olive trees, with grass underneath the un-inclosed Lemon gardens the Oleanders, Stone Pines, the Myrtles in flower covering the rocky shore, the transparent blue sea, & the charming quiet of the whole scene – In short we are quite in love with Mentone, & it certainly has done us all worlds of good – Addio caro fratello. ¹⁴ how you w^d enjoy being here now! Give my best love to Constance & write soon –

Y^r aff^te
Caroline

Pray send me an acc^t of my little pépinière, ¹⁵ & the height of the tallest Oak & Spanish Chesnut. Has Ela any other name?

Angletere
W. H. Fox Talbot Esq^re
31 Sackville Street
Laycock Abbey
London
Wilts
Chippenham