Melbury ^<1>
Monday 1 March 1830

My dear Henry

I arrived here this evening from Lacock & am sorry to find Harry ^<2> with so bad a cold he has been in his room ten days, but thinks himself rather better – I spent 4 or 5 hours at M^r Selwyns ^<3> by the way, & recommend you strongly to pay it a visit from Lacock some day: it is the prettiest specimen of practical & tasteful gardening within a small space I ever saw – The G house is particularly neat & well ordered & contains a very good selection of plants a splendid Eccremocarpus & Cistus vaginatus & more Calceolariæ than I thought existed I departed loaded with plants. His rock work is quite a pattern – Sedums & saxifrages of many uncommon sorts & all in profusion. He has canna iridiflora & edulis – Dianthus pungens, arbuscula, fruticosa & many other rare sorts – Sedum roseum, ternatum, hispanicam monregalense sow themselves –

My fritillaria cannot be lutea because it is dotted, not chequered & bell shaped like pyrenaica, not sac shaped like lutea, latifolia &c. Pray plant some Spanish chestnuts at Lacock there are two fine ones Car. ^<4> showed me – & some Cedars, in the open near the stews. Salter ^<5> at Bath sells stone pines 2 ft high at 6^s a dozen. I think oriental planes would thrive in your meadows.

I found your picture tickets after you went – you owe me £2. 5. 0 – for 10 tickets pray pay it to M^r Feilding ^<6> I owe him just that for some N^os of M^d de Genlis. ^<7> If you visit any nursery ask for Statice monopetala & speciosa – Rhodod– arboreum & chamæcistus – you will like them –

You will hear of cyclamens & [illegible] from them – a T. celsiana ^<8> is going to flower & one of your [Danni?] (apparently) is out.

Y^r Aff^te
W F S

I find here a great variety of Crocuses which I am trying to make out. C. hederæfolium in flower under the name of repandum – they are the same – I go to Abbotsbury ^<9> tomorrow – I saw a good deal of a [Rubia?] at Lacock – what is it? Pray give orders to have Hypecoum seed saved as I fear it is an annual. I consider it between Poppies & Fumitories.

There is a good deal of caucalis orientalis here do you want any – with the space you have at command you ought to have a little of every thing – Have you Patersonia longiscapa – M^r S. had his fimbriata in as fine flower as I ever saw it in Italy – I hope Hart F. ^<10> & you may make some botanical visits together. pray ask for a yellow flowered pittosporum new 4 or 5 years ago I forget the name –

H. Talbot Esq
31 Sackville Street

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Notes:

1. Melbury, Dorset: one of the Fox Strangways family homes; WHFT was born there.

2. Henry Stephen Fox Strangways, 3^rd Earl of Ilchester (1787–1858).

3. Rev Townshend Selwyn (1783–1853), botanist & Canon of Gloucester.

4. Caroline Augusta Edgcumbe, née Feilding, Lady Mt Edgcumbe (1808–1881); WHFT’s half-sister.

5. See also Doc. No: 01958.

6. Rear Admiral Charles Feilding (1780–1837), Royal Navy; WHFT’s step-father.

7. Stéphanie-Félicité du Crest de Saint-Aubin, Comtesse de Genlis (1746–1830), writer and educator.

8. Tulipa.

9. Abbotsbury, Dorset: home of William Thomas Horner Fox Strangways.

10. Harriot Georgiana Mundy, née Frampton (1806-1886), WHFT’s cousin & sister-in-law.