Thursday
My Dear Henry
Last night William <1> came to take leave of me, he was quite envious of the Mill <2> you sent me. He said it was very odd you would not send him anything for Petersburg that he had waited a long time to answer his friend (some Savant there) and at last he sent his letter yesterday morning in despair of specimens to enclose. He wants to prevent their giving an immense sum of money to Daguerre <3> for the secret by shewing them what can be done without it. The Primroses you sent are as well shaded as if they had been done by a Camel's hair brush & Sepia, the violets (being more opaque I suppose) are only exact outlines. I understand the Queen <4> being no Botanist admires most the riband you sent her. Therefore I have I mind to send you a bit of beautiful Point Lace which I think would have great success - shall I? I wish you would send me some more to lay on my table. Louise <5> has a vast number of Morning visitors expressly to see them. Mr M. <6> writes me word that your fame in Norfolk is boundless, but that even his brother did not for a long time know that you were the Talbot who had caused such a sensation in Europe. I shall begin to feel like Cornelia <7> the Mater Gracchorum. <8>
Affy Yrs
E F
Pray send the enclosed notes directly.
Notes:
1. William Thomas Horner Fox Strangways, 4th Earl of Ilchester (1795-1865), botanist, art collector & diplomat.
2. This could be a print from a Cliché Verre Negative. [See Larry J. Schaaf, The Photographic Art of William Henry Fox Talbot (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2000), p. 36].
3. Louis Jacques Mandé Daguerre (1787-1851), French artist, showman & inventor.
4. Victoria (1819-1901), Queen of the United Kingdom (1837-1901), Empress of India (1876-1901).
5. Louisa Emma Petty Fitzmaurice, née Fox Strangways, Marchioness of Lansdowne (1785-1851), wife of Henry Petty Fitzmaurice, 3rd Marquess of Lansdowne; Lady of the Bedchamber to Queen Victoria, 1837-1838; WHFT's aunt.
6. Probably Rev George Stephen Molyneux Montgomerie(1790-1850), close friend of Talbot family, artist, Rector of Garboldisham, near Thetford, Norfolk.
7. Cornelia, the famous cultivated mother of the Roman reformers Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus. Most information comes from Plutarch's lives of her sons whom she called 'her jewels.'
8. Mother of the Gracchi.