Letter from Gertrude Valentine FitzPatrick, London, to Madame Blaze de Bury,1859? December? : autograph manuscript signed.

Writing to say that they will not be able to go to Paris for Christmas as her father is ill; adding that her brother has come to spend his holidays with them, and that her mother will speak to her father and "if possible, we will yet go to Paris by the middle of January"; adding that they will go to London until Easter "& then to Paris to settle my brother's teeth"; regretting that she will not be seeing Madame de Bury sooner, saying that she will be leaving on Monday to visit her sister, Mrs. (Augusta Frederica Anne) Magniac, in London, and asking Madame de Bury to write her at 67 Grosvenor street; writing that they "have been indulging in private theatricals", having performed "Cinderella", "and "a melodrama called 'Pauline', translated from the French a play founded on George Sand's 'Mauprat'", adding that (her sister) "Florence Higginson acted the heroine so cleverly & thrillingly that they were moved to tears"; saying that she is sorry to be leaving the country "tho' it is covered with snow, & bitterly cold" as "it is prettier & more cheerful than dull London", that she intends to reread Eothen (by Alexander Kinglake), and reflecting that English women are "oft times remarkable both for head & specially heart, but they are not appreciated in England - no woman can commit a greater sin here than to be clever!"; expressing her admiration for Garibaldi and sympathy for Italy; informing her that Lord Dering has been to stay with them, that he said he said he knows Madame de Bury, and asking her opinion of him, and telling that they liked him and found him "very clever", and "such a blessing where all the Englishmen are so stiff & formal!"