[Anna Jameson to her father]

Vienna May 7 [1835]

I am afraid my dearest father & Mother that you have all been in some anxiety about me for it is long since I have written a regular *letter* - & it is longer still since I have had a *letter* from home - but I have sent to the post at Dresden & Weimar to have all letters forwarded to me immediately - I wrote a few lines to dear Eliza some days ago with an order for some money 25 - & tell her that if all things go well with me I will send her more in October, or sooner if possible - I will try to send 50 & if Jameson sends me my money but since his last letter date Oct 12 - I have not had a line & know nothing about him or his situation, or his intentions. I am recovering, but very slowly, from this long illness - I eat a little bit of chicken yesterday for the first time - but travelling is out of the question for weeks to come - & then the Physician thinks I ought to go to one of the baths - my whole frame of existence has been shaken to its foundation & the bodily anguish I endured was so great that the idea of a relapse makes me shudder - there is no fear if I take care of myself - but the utmost tranquility of body & mind is insisted upon. I have taken 3 little rooms in one of the suburbs of Vienna half a mile from the city, where there is a pretty garden & every "convenience a fig can want" - the way in which they manage these things here will perhaps amuse you - a furnished lodging is rare, except in the city - & then very dear & seldom well furnished. - the price is from 60 to 100 florins a month for 3 or 4 rooms - for these three rooms, which are very pretty & have a little kitchen attached to them - I pay 9 florins (18 shillings) a month unfurnished - but I must take them for *three* months certain - I thought this worth while. I then go to a *Tandler* or furnisher (which is a particular trade here) & hire the furniture I want by the month - this will cost me about 20 or 24 florins a month - such is my present arrangement. I intend to keep very very quiet for 6 weeks or two months - working as soon as I am able at my Metastasio - & if my health permits, return to Weimar, & then to England by the Rhine - towards the end of the summer - or if I am very weak go to Ischel, a famous bath at 2 days from Vienna & spend a month there - such are my plans - do you approve? - but I am sure you will - I am surrounded here by friends, kind attentive friends & the interest excited by my illness has touched as well as amused me I have mentioned to you the

[Anna Jameson to her father]

May 7 [1835]

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Princess of Hohenzollern as one who has been most attentive - she loads me with caresses & kindn[ess] & by her & Countess Zichy I have been in[troduced?] into some of the first circles - the women of rank are excessively proud - & the Princess one of the proudest - one day she spoke of her son the hereditary Prince & mentioned his having made a mesalliance, that is a marriage beneath his title & rank - this mesalliance was with the sister of the Duke de Leuchtenberg - who was to have married Maria-Gloria! - I then took my part - & on a fitting opportunity I told her playfully who & what I was, the daughter of a painter & without any ancestors or any pretentions, except what I owed to myself & then I described to her my home just as it is, & Mauma in her Garden - & Papa in his chair - what good sisters I had & how I love you all - the Princess made no other answer than by taking my hand & kissing it with an expression of respect & affection - this happened in the beginning of our acquaintance - the anecdote, & a bon mot I made about my no ancestors - ran round all the circles here - & I have the pleasure of knowing that the distinction I enjoy rests on no false pretentions - Another most interesting friend I have made here is a young polish Countess, Calista Rezwinska, the granddaughter of that beautiful Princess Lubomirska who was guillotined at Paris I dare say Papa recollects all that horrid story she is about 25 - speaks equally well six different languages & is a most [Written in red ink across all pages and between the lines in one portion of p.4]

May 16 - I was interrupted in this letter my dearest father, by a kind of relapse which obliged me to keep my bed three days - but I did not suffer again from those horrid spasms it was merely that I had begun to exert my strength too soon - I have read dear Eliza's letter directed to Weimar - & I am grieved that you have lost your little Donna - to whom I beg you will give my kindest love & congratulations - poor Thain - I am sorry very sorry he is no more - both for your sake, my dear father, & poor Sophy's - tell her I feel for her - & that I send her all I can send - my love, & the assurance of my sympathy -

Yesterday I went out for the first time & dined with Pess Hohenzollern & her Sister - & today I went to see a Nun take the veil in the Ursuline Convent here the ceremony was very striking - & very unlike what I had imagined - More beautiful as a picture & less affecting as a spectacle - besides the Nun who took the veil - (that is the black veil) two young women took the habit - or white veil - that is became Novices - & according to the regulations of the Emperor

[Anna Jameson to her father]

May 7 [1835]

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Joseph the Noviciate lasts 4 years instead of two - all looked chearful - the Nun who took the veil was the most chearful - & had a pleasing & intelligent countenance - I congratulated her, & kissed her hand according to the custom - & then went over the convent where I saw many skulls of St. Ursula's 11 000 Virgins - (the real original skulls brought all the way from Cologne) & other valuable relics - these nuns educate 600 poor Children (as well as they can) & have besides boarders or pupils of a superior rank - who pay so much a year - I feel that this is a very stupid letter but I am myself so languid & stupid you must forgive me - I will write to dear Louisa - my first feeling when I read that she was in what these Austrians call "a hopeful way" was a sort of terror for I never shall forget what she suffered - I hope Henry will take good care of her - indeed I know he will so you do not think the print like? I can conceive that with the sort of complexion I have & my red hair - the colour would make an infinite difference - I shall send Mr. Lane an order for payment as soon as I know what the cost is - & that you my dear father are satisfied - is the picture in the Exhibition - tell Henry with my love that I wish him to send me a list of the best pictures God bless you all my own dear ones all St Johns - Mortimer St & Benton St - & love to all friends

(signed:) Anna