Decr 31st 1820
Dear Talbot,
It being a long time since I heard either from or of you, I am anxious to have some account of your welfare & also of your proceedings since I had the pleasure of seeing you at Oxford & especially of your intended Tour on the Continent, where I hope you had a good opportunity of observing the Eclipse of the Sun in September; here, owing to the nebulæ floating in the air, it was plainly visible to the naked eye; it made a difference of nearly nine degrees on the Thermometer when exposed to a South Aspect. the Shadows at the time were very peculiar, at Alnwick the Cows came to be milked as at their usual hour. –
In the seventh part of the Edinburgh Philosophical Journal (just published) you may see a notice of the Linnæa Borealis being discovered near Wallington, it was found by one of my sisters in an old Fir Plantation, where Trientalis Europæa & one of the Pyrolas together with other rare Plants are abundant, in the same place I found the beautiful Agaricus Xerampelinus, I hope this proof that discoveries in our Flora may yet be made, will induce you to join us in our Botanical researches. I am spending the winter in Edinburgh, which I like very much & have met with a very clever Botanist, Mr Greville <1> of Derbyshire, studying Medicine he is a great friend of Hookers <2> has a large collection of Cryptogamous Plants & is about to publish a work on the Fuci, of which class of Plants several new species have been found near Edinburgh & also the Buxbaumia aphylla. I do not remember whether I mentioned to you the large Lycoperdon Borista, near six feet in circumference from Norfolk which I saw at Sowerbys. <3> If your more important studies will allow you time to write a few lines, it will give great pleasure to
yours very sincerely
W C. Trevelyan
W. H F Talbot Esqr
Trinity college
Cambridge
Notes:
1. Robert Kaye Greville (1794–1866), botanist.
2. Sir William Jackson Hooker (1785–1865), Prof & botanist.
3. James Sowerby (1757–1822), artist and scientific illustrator.