Melbury <1>
8 May
My dear Henry
I suppose you will see Charlotte <2> while she is in London, pray tell her I would write her all sorts of directions if I knew where she was going or where to write to her. We did not believe the marriage had actually taken place till we received the Cake.
I send you a Geranium to be named, there is a great deal of it here Among other things we have anemone Narcissiflora very fine, Lupinus Polyphyllus double N. poeticus, Anemone hortensis dichotoma & sylvestris & Tulipa Celsiana I was more lucky with Clusiana than you as a few did flower but in small proportion to the offsets – The Evershot <3> tulip is a great beauty – I mean to cultivate it assiduously – it is also to be seen in the gardens of Catistock. <4> As I am making out the genus tell me if one is bound in constituting a species to consider any other than the wild plant & its wild varieties? I think not & that the difference observed in cultivated sorts need only be put in a note. I shall send you a synopsis as soon as it is finally made out. Pray impress on Charlotte the expediency of digging up roots &c & of giving a shilling to the gardener of the Villa Durazzo allo Zerbino for which he will weed his walks & give her a peck of Colchicum.
Yr Affte
W F S
Dorchester, May Eight 1830 Ilchester <5>
H. Talbot Esqr
Sackville St
London
Notes:
1. Melbury, Dorset: one of the Fox Strangways family homes; WHFT was born there.
2. Charlotte Louisa 'Charry' Traherne, née Talbot (1800–1880), WHFT’s cousin.
3. Near Melbury.
4. Modern Cattistock, near Melbury.
5. Henry Stephen Fox Strangways, 3rd Earl of Ilchester (1787–1858).