Vendredi, au soir.
Monsieur
Je vous envoye le microscope que je posséde, afin que vous le mettiez en état de servir à nos experiences, si cela est possible – Je me rendrai chez vous un peu avant onze heures demain matin – le Capitaine Sabine <1> (compagnon de Parry <2> dans ses voyages Polaires) et M. Trevelyan <3> savant distingué, desirent assister à ces experiences, et je leur ai promis de vous les présenter. J’ai aussi écrit deux mots à vos amis M. Herschel <4> et Sir Richard Vyvyan. <5>
Agréez l’expression de toute ma considération.
W. H. F. Talbot
Professor Amici
Sabloniere Hotel
Leicester Square
Translation:
Friday, in the evening.
Dear Sir
I am sending you the microscope that I possess, so that you can make it fit to be used in our experiments, if that is possible – I will come to your hotel just before eleven o’clock tomorrow morning – Captain Sabine (Parry’s companion on his Polar expeditions) and Mr Trevelyan a distinguished savant, also desire to participate in these experiments, and I promised to introduce you to them. I have also written a couple of words to your friends Mr Herschel and Sir Richard Vyvyan.
Please accept my most sincere regards
W. H. F. Talbot
Professor Amici
Sabloniere Hotel
Leicester Square
Notes:
1. Sir Edward Sabine FRS (1788–1883), served as the astronomer to both the Ross (1818) and Parry (1819–1820) Arctic expeditions in search of the north-west passage.
2. William Edward Parry (1790–1855), arctic explorer, commanded three different attempts to find the north-west passage, 1819–1820 being the first.
3. Walter Calverley Trevelyan, 6th Baronet (1797–1879), naturalist & antiquary.
4. Sir John Frederick William Herschel (1792–1871), astronomer & scientist.
5. Richard Rawlinson Vyvyan FRS (1800–1879), baronet, politician, and scientist.