My dear Henry

I return you the letter which entertained me very much. Kit ^<1> has been an excellent correspondent to us all & I have hardly been a fortnight without hearing of him – his last letter to Mary ^<2> was interesting & described some rock near Palermo covered with jonquils, Candytuft & purple anemonies [sic] – the three colours must have been beautiful! Kit was disapointed [sic] of a scientific doctor there who had been often in the Mediteranean [sic] & also at the North Pole with Cap^t Parry ^<3> – but the Medical superiors ordered him to the East Indies which was a great disapointment [sic] – The roots you sent me are still in the hot house in hopes of forcing life into them but I never thought they would grow as I am pretty sure they were only part of a root & William Strangways ^<4> says they are Asphodel roots – Kit brought me some of the same from Gibraltar that he saw hanging out of the earth but they never grew. As you are going to reside at Laycock I shall begin thinking of what you would like to have sent for your parterre, in the Autumn. of your Genoese plants Tulips anemonies & narcissus have blown – The Tulips (Raddi) ^<5> is [sic] exceeding handsome scarlet with a black & yellow eye & large – the Anemonies are not uncommon but the narcissus is the smallest of its genus & I am sure new to our gardens – as there are many roots, you may have some to give away – both precox [sic] & unicolor – blew this year, one with seven stems but our climate did not suit their early flowering & spoiled them but I shall put a glass over them next spring – The Neapolitan Iriss [sic] are fast coming to blow & the Hyacinths you sent me from Holland were beautiful – I think now, that you will be satisfied you have contributed to the gaiety, & certainly to the interest I take, in the garden. Charlotte ^<6> is gone to Town with Jane & I hope will not be the worse, tho’ the heat seems commencing already. Sir C ^<7>– will be going to Town next week but the rest of us are satisfied where we are – in about a fortnight when the lilacs & may trees are in blow, I hope you will come and see us, but at all times you will find the heartiest welcome from

your aff^e Aunt
M: L: Cole

I suppose you are all in the same ferment about Politics that they are here added to which they have a County ferment about some new roads but I find the only composer a walk amidst those peaceable inhabitants of garden where there are no squabbles nor intrigues give all our loves to all your party – Betty Vickery ^<8> paid me a visit & seemed very proud of the distinction conferred on her – tell your Mother ^<9> her Holly is grown very much

Swansea April thirty 1827: Chris^hr Cole
Henry Fox Talbot Esqre
31 Sackville Street
London

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Notes:

1. Christopher Rice Mansel Talbot (1803–1890), immensely wealthy landowner, mathematician & politician; WHFT’s Welsh cousin.

2. Mary Thereza Talbot (1795–1861), WHFT’s cousin.

3. William Edward Parry (1790–1855), arctic explorer, commanded three different attempts to find the north-west passage, 1819–1820 being the first.

4. William Thomas Horner Fox Strangways, 4^th Earl of Ilchester (1795–1865), botanist, art collector & diplomat.

5. Joseph (Giuseppe) Raddi (1770–1829), Italian botanist.

6. Charlotte Louisa 'Charry' Traherne, née Talbot (1800–1880), WHFT’s cousin.

7. Sir Christopher Cole (1770–1836), Captain, MP & naval officer.

8. Elizabeth Vickery ‘Betty’, WHFT’s governess, who died in 1835. WHFT paid to have a gravestone placed at Cutcombe, Somerset, inscribed: 'Erected to the Memory of Elizb^th Vickery his kind & faithful nurse by Henry Fox Talbot of Lacock Abbey in the country of Wilts Esq^re'; the stone's inscription is still readable - See Doc. No: 03205.

9. Lady Elisabeth Theresa Feilding, née Fox Strangways, first m Talbot (1773–1846), WHFT’s mother.