June 5
My dear Henry
I wish you would send me word which way I ought to direct to Kit <1> at Corfu, he intends going there in the Admiral’s ship this Summer. –
Your allium roseum is in blow now, it has increased very much & flourishes in the sunny beds very much. the Cistus Symphitifolius is in blow and another lilac one whose name I don’t know, your iris roots are flourishing some are in flower now. the ornithogalum is in seed. We have had some of the red cyclamens (in pots) blowing for many months but the double one is dormant this year, what Jane <2> kept at Merthyr mawr <3> were all single, they are of a lovely colour indeed. – Jane’s precious orchiss blew, all three and she saw two of them before she returned to London. – I hope you have got a nice garden at Laycock, I think you should pay us a visit to see if we have not got some things you would like, the convenience of water carriage to Bristol would made it worth while I daresay – All send their love
I am your affate coz
Mary
W. H. Fox Talbot Esqre
31 Sackville Street
London
Notes:
1. Christopher Rice Mansel Talbot (1803–1890), immensely wealthy landowner, mathematician & politician; WHFT’s Welsh cousin.
2. Jane Harriot Nicholl, née Talbot (1796–1874).
3. Merthyr Mawr, Glamorgan, on River Ogwr.
4. Elizabeth Vickery ‘Betty’, WHFT’s governess, who died in 1835. WHFT paid to have a gravestone placed at Cutcombe, Somerset, inscribed: 'Erected to the Memory of Elizbth Vickery his kind & faithful nurse by Henry Fox Talbot of Lacock Abbey in the country of Wilts Esqre'; the stone's inscription is still readable - See Doc. No: 03205.