Normanton ^<1>
July 20^th 1817.

My Dear Mamma,

I am very sorry to see by the papers that Madame de Staël ^<2> is dead. You surprize me by talking of Paris. I don't know what is most to your taste there - however remember to go & see le Jardin des Plantes, ^<3> & tell me how it flourishes - Any news will be acceptable. What did William ^<4> say in his last Epistle? L^d Chesterfield ^<5> says nothing is so ill-bred as having one's coat buttoned.

Turn Over

Pray ask Horatia ^<6> whether she ever received my letter. Let me hear your plans. I can distinguish with the glass the bars of a certain five-barred gate a long way off - I went to it the other day, & found it to be about seven miles off in a straight line, which is very far to discern so small an object. It is near Barleythorpe ^<7> which perhaps M^r Feilding ^<8> knows - You want to know what there is in my garden: Imprimis - some immense roman nettles which sting everybody - 2^do some gigantic coriander & stately mallows. verdant millet - pretty antirrhinum - shewy scorzonera - curious briza, quizzical Claytonia - humble Arctotis -

Y^r Aff^te Son
W. H. F. Talbot

Verba quidem, potius, [illegible deletion] quam mihi charta deest - ^<9>

The L^y Elis^th Feilding
31 Sackville S^t
London
STAMFORD ^<10>

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Notes:

1. Normanton, Rutlandshire.

2. Anne Louise Germaine Necker de Staël-Holstein (better known as Madame de Staël) (1766-1817), critic and writer.

3. Also known as the Museum d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris.

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

5. George Stanhope, 6^th Earl Of Chesterfield (1805-1866).

6. Henrietta Horatia Maria Gaisford, née Feilding (1810-1851), WHFT's half-sister.

7. Near Oakham, Rutland.

8. Rear Admiral Charles Feilding (1780-1837), Royal Navy; WHFT's step-father.

9. It is the words I lack rather than the paper.

10. Printed text.