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Document number: 163
Date: 05 Apr 1861
Dating: 1861?
Recipient: TALBOT William Henry Fox
Author: TALBOT Rosamond Constance
Collection: British Library, London, Manuscripts - Fox Talbot Collection
Last updated: 5th August 2010

Edinbro’
April 5th

My dear Papa,

We will send the four little packets of seeds immediately to Mr. Mackay, the gardener, with directions to sow them carefully in pots in the greenhouse. He came here to receive orders the other day, bringing some forced rhubarb, which proved excellent in a tart, and a large bunch of Spring flowers and double violets. He seems an intelligent man, very anxious to please and proud of his talents, but unfortunately deaf: – Goodwin <1> however can make him perfectly well hear all he says and no doubt he will soon understand us better with practice.

We walked round the Kitchen garden, gay with spring flowers, that pretty little lilac rhododendron that flowers here so early, and the sweetest smelling violets under a sunny wall.

The garden seemed well kept; a very good wall all round, covered with Apple trees, Pears, cherries, Green gages, and Peaches which are not very common here; – and is said to be remarkably productive.

Then we wandered through the grounds but had not time to explore them half, they are so big. It is more a wood than a park, very pretty and a little undulating, with plenty of paths for walking and watered by a little running stream, the Burn, which is never dry even in hot weather.

Mama <2> tells me she has written you a description of the house, so I have nothing more to say, besides it is a place you ought to see to understand. It is in full view of the Pentlands, and quite within a drive of those valleys among them which you always wish to explore;– and, less picturesque but very useful, the station of Gogar on the Glasgow railway is close by though quite hidden, which in a quarter of an hour takes you to Edinburgh.

We returned by the shortest road through Corstorphine, a distance of five miles: from Milburn <3> to Edinbro’–

Now Papa you never will have patience to get through all this, so I will come to an end immediately.

With love from us all, believe me Your affectionate daughter
Rosamund.

We went to see Mr & Mrs Charles Kean <4> in Hamlet last Wednesday, and were exceedingly pleased. And tomorrow we have secured places for Macbeth.

Notes:

1. George Goodwin (d. 1875), footman at Lacock Abbey.

2. Constance Talbot, née Mundy (1811–1880), WHFT’s wife.

3. 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 .

4. See Doc. No: 08336.

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