Abby <1> –
13 Decr
My dear Henry
I have long thought it was time I should write to you & now doubting whether you are still at Millburn <2> I think it safer to direct to Lacock.
We are here enjoying a grand storm, indeed we have had plenty of them this season, & rain every other day at least, for three months.
The weather is so mild we have plenty of flowers Narcissus Tazetta & paper, Convol. Cneorum, Lithosperm rosmarinifol. Medicago arborea<.> Oxalis cernua. Pittosporum. Brugmansia. Crocus Imperati<.> Campan – muralis & fragilis. Gazania – Cistus – Escallonia – Gualtheria <3> – Azara integrifolia &c – &c – all in flower. I even saw a dwarf yellow Iris – out – I have been out but once being kept to the house for 3 months – on account of the illness I had after coming from Wales – where we were most part of August.
We had near an inch and a half rain fall one night. I wish you could come here & see the Aloes on the terrace they are grown so fine – they stand wet far better than even the hardiest Cacti.
Can you come to Melbury <4> for Xmas? I have a nice little collection of Ferns there now. Some how I can neither get Bougainvillea nor Taxonia manicata to do. I want to hear something of your Swiss tour – what you saw & found – & brought home. & where you went.
I hope you can give a good account of Mrs Talbot <5> & Ela <6> & Rosamond <7> – the Clarks <8> I suppose are going on prosperously. What is Charles <9> occupying himself with? would he come to Melbury in case you cannot? we hope Noel <10> is coming –
Jane <11> as usual was not at home when we were in Wales <12> but she came for a few days to Melbury – & seemed pretty well.
Yr Affte
Wm
Notes:
1. Abbotsbury, Dorset: home of William Thomas Horner Fox Strangways.
2. Millburn Tower, Gogar, just west of Edinburgh; the Talbot family made it their northern home from June 1861 to November 1863. It is particularly important because WHFT conducted many of his photoglyphic engraving experiments there. The house had a rich history. Built for Sir Robert Liston (1742-1836), an 1805 design by Benjamin Latrobe for a round building was contemplated but in 1806 a small house was built to the design of William Atkinson (1773-1839), best known for Sir Walter Scott’s Abbotsford. The distinctive Gothic exterior was raised in 1815 and an additional extension built in 1821. Liston had been ambassador to the United States and maintained a warm Anglo-American relationship in the years 1796-1800. His wife, the botanist Henrietta Liston, née Marchant (1751-1828) designed a lavish American garden, sadly largely gone by the time the Talbots rented the house .
3. Gaultheria.
4. Melbury, Dorset: one of the Fox Strangways family homes; WHFT was born there.
5. Constance Talbot, née Mundy (1811–1880), WHFT’s wife.
6. Ela Theresa Talbot (1835–1893), WHFT’s 1st daughter.
7. Rosamond Constance ‘Monie’ Talbot (1837–1906), artist & WHFT’s 2nd daughter.
8. Matilda Caroline Gilchrist-Clark, ‘Tilly’, née Talbot (1839–1927), WHFT’s 3rd daughter and her husband and infant son.
9. Charles Henry Talbot (1842–1916), antiquary & WHFT’s only son.
10. Francis Noel Mundy (1833–1903), WHFT’s nephew.
11. Jane Harriot Nicholl, née Talbot (1796–1874).
12. See Doc. No: 08447.