Edinbro’ –
Saturday
March 23d
My dear Papa,
Many thanks for your long letter which I received this morning, and by which we saw that you did not get Mama’s <1> on Thursday as you ought; but that we had already guessed on the receipt of your telegram yesterday. A negligence of the Chippenham <2> post office, I suppose, such as has already occurred several times before. Do please send the seeds by post; Tilly <3> would be very glad to have them, as it is time to sow the earlier sorts now.
But we were very anxious to have some of them also, both vegetables & flowers to sow at Milburn tower; <4> they would all thrive there as the soil is good, and seeds this year are both scarce and dear.
The gardener is just beginning to stock it, and would plant anything we sent him. Could you not ask Wilkins <5> to return you any that he does not absolutely want, particularly the Paris Cos lettuce, which is so good, and which he did not used to care for? – What a pity the horticultural society did not make the same lucky mistake as last year and send you two packets! I suppose it would be impossible to beg or buy any more from them.
It is very mild today, but we have had several snowstorms & high winds of late, though the snow did not remain long on the ground.
I am sorry Charles <6> is still so often unwell, but perhaps the change will do him good. I must write to him soon. Please give him my love. Goodbye, dear Papa,
Your affectionate daughter
Rosamond.
Notes:
1. Constance Talbot, née Mundy (1811–1880), WHFT’s wife.
2. Chippenham, Wiltshire: largest town near Lacock, 3 miles N.
3. Matilda Caroline Gilchrist-Clark, ‘Tilly’, née Talbot (1839–1927), WHFT’s 3rd daughter.
4. 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 .
5. George Wilkins (b. 1814), gardener at Lacock.
6. Charles Henry Talbot (1842–1916), antiquary & WHFT’s only son.