TALBOT929

Lucern ¹

July 2^d 1821

I hope you have received two letters from me. The Count went this morning to Zurich, but as it was a gloomy rainy day, I preferred to stay here till tomorrow, when I mean to reach Soleure, & return to Berne on Wednesday early. We have had a delightful tour. The costume of Lucerne is totally different from Schwytz, being a large chapeau de paille. ² I forgot to say we found a curious entry in the traveller’s book on the Rigi. “M^r Couche & family who were detained here several days from a hurt by lightning, the same flash having killed the servant of M^rs Mount, about six paces from the cross on the top of the mountain. July 2^d 1820” –

Near this town is a chapel to the memory of the Swiss Guards ³ massacred on the 10^th August 1792, & near it is a magnificent figure of a Lion ⁴ mortally wounded, cut in the solid rock – It is not quite finished, the design is by Canova, ⁵ the scaffolding is veiled, that it may not be seen till it is finished, the veil is to be withdrawn on the night between the 9^th & 10^th of August next. – The weather has now cleared up for a fine afternoon. For want of something better to do I have made some charades which I send you: they are very easy: & all English words. –

Your Aff^te Son

W.H.F. Talbot

My first is a very small bonnet,
My next is a very large Town:
My whole – they will quickly hit on it
Whoever the least of it own –

Of Mice the terror, Men the slave –,
My first we’ve tam’d & made her ours;
A Tiger’s spirit Nature gave,
But has denied the Tiger’s pow’rs.

But by my next imprison’d are
Those locks alas! why shoulds’t <sic> thou bind?
For surely they were fairer far
In streaming to the Summer wind.

My whole’s the Town the dead do have
Where dark & deep the miner quarries –
It is a place beyond the Grave –
And yet not quite so far as Paris –

By all avoided & abhorr’d
My first would lead a dismal life.
If you’re my next, upon my word
You’ll ne’er be <illegible deletion> cross – except in strife.

My whole, whatever men may say
Will last at least as long as they:
Nor do I think its life will cease,
Tell all of us shall rest in peace. –

To my First, to be taught to be wise
Was the sluggard by Solomon sent,
But home he return’d I surmise
No wiser at all than he went.

My next is imprudent of course
Yet when parents refuse to consent
It is sometimes the only resource
Of the spinster on marriage intent.

My whole lives in Africa’s plains
Where the sands do all hunting prevent,
Now guess it – and lo! for your pains
You will hit on the word that I meant.

À Miladi
Miladi Elisabeth Feilding

Poste Restante
^à Berne