My dear Henry
We have been looking with a great number of Eyes & can see no comet pray mark the the precise spot we are to examine - we dined yesterday at Mr Lucas's <1> & all the way home we examined a most luminous sky but could not see any Comet. I think you will be surprised to hear that some of your seeds are 3 inches high the Vicia Gracilis & all the Allium bulbs are half an inch out of ground & a fine crop [sic] Scorzonera laciniata from the Florence garden. my garden is come on in crocuses & another week of this beautiful mild weather will make it quite gay. Charlotte <2> continued pretty well till yesterday & today, she is very poorly but I think she had a longer interval than usual. all the rest are quite well. Kit <3> goes hunting sometimes when other sportsmen would be coming home, but it encourages him to view all the nooks in the country & brings him acquainted with many people & things that he would not learn in such an agreeable manner. he got a soft fall the other day, it would have been a [sic] very dangerous if it had not been so muddy. I cannot describe how much wemiss you my dear Henry nor my own regret at the long time it will be before I have such another friendly visit. to find your mind in the same teachable habit or in other words free from the self-sufficiency that clouds so frequently the best ability where there is not a wish for self [illegible] <4> was a great pleasure to me & a consolation to many fears which I had had on your account. I have been so bothered with conversation since I have been writing this that I am afraid you will find it difficult of comprehension but you will understand that you are my beloved nephew & I your affectionate Aunt -
Mary L Cole
[address panel:]
Henry Talbot Esqr
[added in another hand:]
Lady Mary Cole
1811<5>
Notes:
1. Richard Lucas (1761-1827), Rector of Casterton Magna and of Edith Weston. Casterton is near Stamford.
2. Charlotte Louisa 'Charry' Traherne, née Talbot (1800-1880), WHFT's cousin.
3. Christopher Rice Mansel Talbot (1803-1890), immensely wealthy landowner, mathematician & politician; WHFT's Welsh cousin.
4. Text obscured by seal.
5. This date attribution is impossible because Mary Lucy's 2nd marriage, to Capt Sir Christopher Cole (1770-1836), was on 28 April 1815.