May 2d 1816
My Dear Henry
Your last Letter made me quite hungry & I wished for an Agnean en Epigramme. <1> Have you been to the Jardin des plantes? <2> Tell me what you have seen that you like best. Jane <3> thinks it must be the Ptarogonium Smithii you found. Was it? They leave town the day after tomorrow. I hope you will lose no opportunity of Writing; your Letters amuse me so very much. Particularly the view of the Balloon!!! Tell Mr F. <4> that when Prince Leopold <5> pronounced the words in the marriage ceremony “with all my worldly goods I thee endow” Pss Charlotte <6> could not forbear an involuntary smile. Likewise tell him I should like some silk Scarfs, of glowing colours, nothing Biche <7> or Quakerish and that is all I want. Tho’ If I suddenly found myself in the middle of the Palais Royal <8> I should not exclaim like Socrates at the Fair at Athens, Quantis non egeo! <9>
Adieu Mon bien aimé <10>
conservatevi ed amatemi e scrivetemi <11>
William Henry Fox Talbot
à Paris
Notes:
1. See Doc. No: 00694.
2. Also known as the Museum d’Histoire Naturelle in Paris.
3. Jane Harriot Nicholl, née Talbot (1796–1874).
4. Rear Admiral Charles Feilding (1780–1837), Royal Navy; WHFT’s step-father.
5. Prince Leopold George Frederick of Saxe-Saalfeld-Coburg, later King Léopold I of the Belgians (1790–1865).
6. Princess Charlotte (1744–1817), daughter of George IV, Prince Regent, later King of England.
7. Ventre de biche: rosy-white like a hind’s belly.
8. Palais Royal, built in 1632.
9. How many things do I not demand!
10. Goodbye my beloved.
11. Look after yourself and love me and write to me.