Transcription
Saturday Evening April 8: 1843
7 o’clock
The weeks fly round pretty rapidly, my dear M, / when one’s time is occupied; and here we are scribbling away [^ again], / for the French Courier who is off at Eight; and is for us almost / the last chance for the Cunard Steamer of the 19th.
We looked to day certainly for the letters by the / Great Western, bit rec’d nothing from home but as old paper of / February 25th:_ I have an expectation that with these letters by the / Western you will again be quietly installed at home, tho I hope not / if the season be as disagreeable as our March weather generally.
Mr. Irving is improving quite are grand galop [sic] within / a few days; this morning the air was so soft and agreable [sic] / that we were tempted to drive out along what is called the / French road, up the valley of the Manzanares, towards the / Mountains _ about a pretty little clump of trees; and there / walked about in the shade enjoying himself exceedingly: he / was so much pleased [^with the spot] that we brought the cushions from / the carriage; made a couch for him on the grass at the / foot of a tree, and near the river bank: It was a very / pretty bit of rurality, and after the confinement of a sick / room appeared [^ to] him a little paradise in which he / reclined a la Turque, listening in a dreamy state to the the /
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Singing of birds and the murmer [sic] of the water : already we talk / of pic-nics, and “little baskets”; Mad’e Albuquerque, and her small / family _ He is much troubled with the last news from home, / and Master Phil’s conduct, which I suppose has been duly discussed / by Mrs. Sheldon and the neighbours generally.
We are to [you?] our Young Brevoort next Wednesday / when he sets off for Barcelona en route for Italy and Sicily _ He / has been my daily companion for more than ten months, and has / so many amiable + delightful qualities that I shall feel very / much the loss of his society : I am hurrying him of notwithstanding, / and give myself credit for a Roman virtue in so doing, as I am afraid / he will lose, unless he has a fair start, the visit to Sicily and / Malta _ Sẽnor [Anx-mes?] is not a very entertaining companion / so that there will be no third man in the family for the Minister / or the [Misses?Mysen?] : We must be each other’s daily bread for some time to / come : fortunately we appear to be improving in each others ac - / quaintance as we advance :
Mr. I. is now so much better that he will begin to / see his friends; and I have therefore engaged a Carriage today to / visit Toledo on Wednesday next: _ My party (for I have got it up) / consists of four: Albuquerque, Count [Marnis?] (Belgium), Ames, / and your brother : _ We have a shay and four horses, and will be / absent four days, spending Thursday and Friday, (the great days / of the holy week) at Toledo and returning on Saturday _ I have / a great curiosity to see this picturesque old Town and its glorious / Cathedrals : I suppose you saw in Borrow’s book that the /
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Jews of Toledo were [sp–sed?] by the Spaniards on the ground that they / had emigrated from Jerusalem before the brith of our Saviour and of / course had no part in that terrible act of their countrymen :_ Apropos / of Borrow : they tell so many queer stories of him here that one doubts / a very considerable part of his amusing adventures : we have made / the discovery that his squire of the body ‘Antonio Buchini’, is our / cook! _ his own announcement of himself “Je suis Grec; Je suis [frei?frer?] et j’ai des principes” is so far from the fact; unless the prin - / ciples he alludes to, are those of robbing whenever he can get a / chance, that “like Master like man” makes us doubt some of the / amusing [^strange] adventures _ To return to Toledo ) all the world and his / wife are going from Madrid to see the shows, and the Gentlemen of / the Road, unless alarmed at the numbers will have fine picking in / the neighborhood of the old gothic town : It would be a great / cast of their net if they should capture a minister; a chargé, sec- / -retary + so forth at one haul : _
I have a correspondence with Mrs. Ledyard inter alia / about lace scarfs which it seems are very magnifique et pas cheres / here : I shall look out for you Girls if I find any thing pretty / in that way . _ /
The Cortés are sitting and I attends the debates / and learns a little [^ of the] Spanish language and Politics + The Queen / Uncle “Francisco de Paula” has been elected Deputy and takes his / seat in the midst of the Radical Republican party _ The Spaniards / who are very ready with the sobriquets, call him, Paco (the abbreviation / of Francis) Egalité _ He’s a very great simpleton as seems to be a / necessary consequence of his birth, but his wife is a restless political / intriguante, and is busy trying to marry her son to the young / Isabella; This worthy couple had an interview with their niece /
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The other day, who according to the paper shed tears of joy in the / arms of her affectionate relations. /
I have been introduced to the famous Quintana; the first / of the living Spanish poets and Lord Holland’s friend of 36 years standing / to whom he dedicated his “Lope de Vega” _ He is very interesting old / man of more than 70 : Has been in dungeons for years, and only / escaped hanging by a miracle, for the cause of freedom and is now /
In a green old age : he also [sic] a Director of the studies of the little / Queen : It is mentioned of in proof of his independence that Godoy at / the height of his power could not induce Quintana by any temptation / to write a single line in his favor :_
I have but a few minutes + must sign, seal and deliver : / What pleasures we look forward to in the receipt of news tomorrow : / We have June suns and the lilacs under our window in flower 👍
Much love to Mama and all
Your affec brother A. H.
[ADDRESS]
Cunard Steamer
19h April
James A Hamilton Esq.
(for Miss M.H.)
Nevis
Westchester County
New York.
[REVERSE OF ADDRESS]
Alexander
Madrid
19th April
1843.Transcriber
Kathryn AlexanderLanguage
English
