Rottingdean <1>
Septbr 9th - 1810
My Dear Mamma,
I am very much obliged to you for your nice long letter. I will tell you how our garden is now, since you like it. Alkekengè has three little buds, it has not blown again yet: have you ever heard of it before I told you of it? Double Balsam (as was the name on the seed paper) has blown, & proves to be single, it blew single because It ought to have been planted in a hotbed but it is a most beautiful red colour without any mixture of white. Nolana goes on blowing which it has been doing for two months past. Yellow Hawkweed is out of flower: Purple Hawkweed still blows in it's [sic] snug corner behind the Sunflower. Cyanus or Cornflower is nearly out of blow, but not quite. Cantania has been out of blow so long that its seeds are ripe. Roman Nettle has been out of blow some time, for I understand that it has a pink flower, that it blew in the holidays; Spanish Nigilla [sic] has blown a purple flower something like Larkspur no wonder as it is the same. Dwarf Lychnis is still blowing. Devil in the Bush has blown. White Lavatera is in bud but not blown. Thrift is going to blow again I think. Persicaria is still in full blow. Flos Adonis has had five flowers the sixth is coming. Red Zemia has blown yellow so I can't tell what it is, some of the boys say it is Cyrinthe but I think it is yellow Zemia. The bell for afternoon church rings. I did not write to you for two weeks because you did not answer me for I wait for an answer. Goodbye, if I do'nt [sic] stop now it will be too late for the post,
your affectionate son
W. H. F. Talbot.
Lady E Feilding
Bounds <2>
Tunbridge Wells
Notes:
1. Rottingdean, East Sussex, 4 mi SE of Brighton: WHFT attended school there from 1808-1811.
2. Probably Bounds Manor House, near Tunbridge, Kent.