[crest]
Melbury
June 2d/
Dear Henry Talbot
Many thanks for your letter, & the trouble you have taken in gaining the information I asked you for – it is a disappointment I must own to hear that Sir Watson Gordon is unable to pay us a visit – as I fear the journey to Edinburgh is more than William is inclined to this Summer, as he has made up his mind to shew me the country about here –
I wonder if Sir Watson Gordon has ever been at Weymouth, & whether the great works at Portland would induce him to come into Dorsetsh as then we could stay in Weymouth during his visit, and in this way a Sitting might be managed without Sir Watson Gordon breaking his general rule –
Who should you recommend supposing I have to give up any chance of seeing Sir Watson Gordon?
Wm will answer the Botanical part of yr letter – Our kind remembrance to Mrs Talbot, & yr Daughters, & we should have enjoyed a trip to Edinburgh very much had it been possible, & many thanks for yr kind wish to see us at Millburn–<1>
Believe me yrs Truly
Sophia Ilchester
In the Roxby woods 26 miles N. of Lincoln is where the Anemone grows wild
[envelope:]
Henry Talbot Esqre.
Millburn Tower
Edinburgh
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 .