Boulogne.

Monday. 14 Aug^st

My dear Son Mein theurest Sohn ^<1>

If you have any thoughts of bringing a Walley de Sham into these parts don’t let it be such a useless corporation as the last, but in fact you will not want the animal I should th<ink> ^<2> if you go the tour you pro<pose> to Spa &c &c Why don’t you write? Caroline & Horatia ^<3> are learning to draw flowers to assist your botanical researches among the Apennines – don’t you like Lord John Russell ^<4> for his forcible letter to M^r Wilberforce ^<5> – I hear Ministers are much annoyed, which is a proof it is well done, & que cela leur pique au vif – adieu carissime ^<6>

W. H. Fox Talbot
Trinity College
Cambridge
Dover Ship Letter ^<7>

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Notes:

1. My dearest son.

2. Text torn away under seal.

3. Caroline Augusta Edgcumbe, née Feilding, Lady Mt Edgcumbe (1808–1881); WHFT’s half-sister, and Henrietta Horatia Maria Gaisford, née Feilding (1810–1851), WHFT’s half-sister.

4. Lord John Russell (1792–1878), statesman.

5. William Wilberforce (1759–1833), Evangelican reformer.

6. That it has stung them sharply – goodbye dearest.

7. Printed text.