father found himself in financial difficulties and decided to retire with
his family to Normandy where living was supposed to be cheaper. But
William Inglis died a few years later, and his widow determined to settle
in America. In the United States Mrs. Inglis established a private school
first in Boston, later in Staten Island, and finally in Baltimore, and her
daughter was a great help, for she immediately revealed herself as an
excellent teacher. Besides, Fanny became a great friend of Ticknor,
Lowell, Longfellow, and especially of Prescott, who thought her "ever
lively and _spirituelle_."

In 1836 a Special Diplomatic Mission from Spain arrived at Washington, and
at its head came Don Angel Calderon de la Barca, a gentleman of high
social standing and an accomplished man of letters, who, naturally enough,
soon established literary relations with William Prescott, then at work on
his _History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella_. In this connection
he became acquainted with many of Prescott's friends, the Inglis ladies
among others, and the result was that he fell in love with the
accomplished Fanny, and married her in 1838. Shortly afterwards Don Angel
was appointed Isabel II's Minister to Mexico, the first Spanish Envoy to
the young Republic that had formerly been the Kingdom of New Spain. The
newly married couple, accordingly, started on their journey to Mexico,
which was destined to be a long one, even for those days, for they left
New York on October 27th and did not reach their destination until the
26th of the following December.

Calderon's mission to Mexico lasted somewhat more than two years, during
which time he and his wife, says Prescott, "lived much at their ease," and
"were regaled _en prince_." In spite of Don Angel's delicate diplomatic
duties and her own frequent social engagements and strenuous excursions,
Fanny Inglis Calderon found time to write almost daily letters, most of