Ab. <1>
3 Feb March 1851
My dear Henry
I left with Caroline <2> a few tracts that may be interesting to you, & which I can give you. Have you made anything out of the Bernardishe Sprachkarte Deutschlands?
I shall take this to the garden & put in a specimen of something, I know not what.
I have found a Mr Saunders <3> at Wandsworth who bought many of the bulbs &c of Dr Herbert, <4> & who cultivates succulents – he has a very rich collection & we have promised each other mutual assistance.
Agave saponaria has stood out this winter with no protection whatever. so has Amaryllis Josephinæ<,> Chamærops hystrix & Piper excelsum & Pomaderris apetala.
What do you think of the present unsatisfactory state of affairs? What a triumph the Pope <5> has had – without a leg to stand on barring a French bayonet he has upset a popular British Ministry with his little finger. What a page for a future Macaulay. <6>
I am from Moreton <7> where I saw a good letter from Horatia <8> of late date.
Yr aff
W F S
[envelope:]
Henry Fox Talbot Esqr
Laycock Abbey-
Chippenham
Notes:
1. Abbotsbury, Dorset: home of William Thomas Horner Fox Strangways.
2. Caroline Augusta Edgcumbe, née Feilding, Lady Mt Edgcumbe (1808–1881); WHFT’s half-sister.
3. William Wilson Saunders (1809–1879), botanist and entomologist.
4. William Herbert, Dean of Manchester (1778–1847), MP; clergy; botanist; linguist.
5. Pius IX [Pio Nono], popular during the revolution of 1848, had been returned to Rome in 1850 by French military action, but had become deeply reactionary.
6. Thomas Babington Macaulay (1800–1859), MP & historian.
7. Moreton, Dorset: home of the Frampton family.
8. Henrietta Horatia Maria Gaisford, née Feilding (1810–1851), WHFT’s half-sister.