Revd Dr Hincks
Millburn Tower Edinburgh<1>
July 8 – 62
Dr Sir
I have sent you a copy of my translation of Sir T. Phillipps’s Cylinder –
It is from the transns of the R. S. of Litre – I have read your Chronological article in last week’s Athenæum. You differ greatly from Rawlinson in the length of reign of Tiglath Pileser II. You say 42 years Rawlinson 24 – May not this arise in part from your omitting the 3 new Kings which Rawlinson has found viz. Shalmaneser II, Ashur danni-el, and Ashru-lush who he says reigned respectively 11, 18, and 8 years – ( I doubt the reading of the names) – Rawlinson omits Pul altogether, and Shalmaneser whom he makes the same with Sargon.
You seem to rely on a tablet described by Oppert: I feel very great doubts of its being accurately described. For it was not the custom for a King to mention in his inscriptions the number of years which his predecessor reigned.
I remain Dr Sir Yours very Truly
H. F. Talbot
Notes:
1. Millburn Tower, Gogar, just west of Edinburgh; the Talbot family made it their northern home from June 1861 to November 1863. It is particularly important because WHFT conducted many of his photoglyphic engraving experiments there. The house had a rich history. Built for Sir Robert Liston (1742-1836), an 1805 design by Benjamin Latrobe for a round building was contemplated but in 1806 a small house was built to the design of William Atkinson (1773-1839), best known for Sir Walter Scott’s Abbotsford. The distinctive Gothic exterior was raised in 1815 and an additional extension built in 1821. Liston had been ambassador to the United States and maintained a warm Anglo-American relationship in the years 1796-1800. His wife, the botanist Henrietta Liston, née Marchant (1751-1828) designed a lavish American garden, sadly largely gone by the time the Talbots rented the house .