Lacock
28 Feb. 1841
My Dear Mother
The Literary Gazette of last Saturday contains a Second letter of mine on Calotype much longer than the first.<1>.
I am glad to hear that Babbage <2> was so fêté and flatté <3> in Italy, and that he did not forget my drawings.
Imagine falling into a fever by talking too much Italian! I am coming to Town in a few days, having various business to transact. What made Kit <4> in so great a hurry as to return without calling on anybody? – The Snowdrops and aconites are now in perfection, it is a very backward season. I am very willing that you should procure for me a stove like Dr Herbert’s. <5>
Yours affly
Henry
Notes:
1. Titled "Calotype (photogenic) drawing, this was published in The Literary Gazette, no. 1258, 27 February 1841, pp. 139-140 - see Doc. No: 04195. WHFT's first letter on this subject was in no. 1256, 13 February 1841, p. 108 - see Doc. No: 04191.
2. Prof Charles Babbage (1792–1871), mathematician & inventor.
3. Praised and flattered.
4. Christopher Rice Mansel Talbot (1803–1890), immensely wealthy landowner, mathematician & politician; WHFT’s Welsh cousin.
5. William Herbert, Dean of Manchester (1778–1847), MP; clergy; botanist; linguist.