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Document number: 1616
Date: 18 Nov 1827
Recipient: TALBOT William Henry Fox
Author: TALBOT Christopher Rice Mansel
Collection: British Library, London, Manuscripts - Fox Talbot Collection
Last updated: 30th January 2012

Malta
November 18th 1827

My dear Henry -

Several letters of yours have reached me here; one from Carlsruhe of a very old date, but as it contained only a joke it was just as good as new. I see you are very anxious about roots. I did not forget you anywhere, but you have no conception how entirely destitute of every species of flower are the Grecian islands in August & September. You might as well dig up the pavement in Piccadilly to look for bulbs as search in many of them. In general the Velani oak, the Pistacia lentiscus, dwarf cedars & Oleanders cover the country where it is not burned by the peasants, with an impenetrable thicket and though I collected occasionally whole sacks of bulbs, I do not think there is a single variety among them, for they have all shot forth a spiked flower which I take to be squill & however close they are kept in drawers &c, they will persist in germinating. I have a few cyclamen roots from Paros & Nauplia but I fear they will not live to England - The soil of Greece is dry beyond belief & frequently you will see hundreds of acres without a living vegetable on them. Some of the islands may be compared to vast brick-kilns. The views are often extensive & grand, but very seldom picturesque. I think it is Lord Byron <1> remarks that had Virgil seen Argos he never would have written 'moriens dulcis reminiscitur Argos' <2> and I fully agree with him, yet this is one of the finest views in Greece - the fact is it is the sublime not the sweet or beautiful which interests the traveller in these parts, and I never in the whole course of my voyage saw anything so stupendously magnificent as the sinus Messiniacus, backed by the Mountains of Taygetus. This I saw during a heavy gale of wind, with the combined Squadron lying too [sic] in every part of it, and the tout ensembl <3>e was quite sublime. You have heard long since of the action at Navarino. <4> I waited seven days in hopes to see it, & actually went in with the Admirals ship & anchored along side an Egyptian 64, but it was no go then, and I never imagined the poor infatuated Turks would have shewn so much pluck I counted ninety three sail some of them beautiful ships. I called on the Pasha of Egypt <5> the day before I left Alexandria - he talked very proudly about his ships, and was much pleased that I admired them. poor man, in a few days he must have heard of their wretched fate. I tremble for the English at Smyrna & Constantinople, but they will be safe in Egypt. The Pasha is a very enlightened man, and spoke of the Turks as being beasts animals with only instinct. yet I do not think he will throw off his allegiance to the Grand Signor, nor do I see that he would gain anything by it, as he only pays a nominal tribute. As for the Egyptian collection, I found it almost impossible to deal with the rascals. Everything of value is collected and kept for the different consuls, & for the refuse which they will not take, an extravagant price is asked. Mr Salt <6> died while I was in Egypt

Ever yours truly
C R M Talbot.

W. H. F. Talbot Esqr
31 Sackville Street
London
[illegible deletions]
England
Lacock Abbey <7>
Chippenham
Wilts


Notes:

1. George Gordon Byron (1788-1824), poet.

2. 'Dying, he remembered sweet Argos', Ĉeneid X, 782.

3. The whole.

4. The battle of Navarino on 20 October 1827, in which the British defeated the Turkish navy. The battle established the independence of Greece.

5. Ibrahim Pasha (1798-1848).

6. Henry Salt (1780-1827), traveller and collector of antiquities, who died in Alexandria at the end of October 1837.

7. Readdressed in another hand.

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