My dear Henry

I mean to be in town Friday & will beg you to try & introduce me to Ld Dudley ^<1> of whom I want to get a few weeks more leave provided Ld Burghersh ^<2> does not suddenly give up the post – which I suppose is a secret to the Minister as well as to me – & on the whole I would just as soon go anywhere else. Enough is as good as a feast & variety is the sauce of life.

My Florence tulips are in a state of perfection – two primrose coloured of Lady Hawardens ^<3> discovery – & 6 Michael Angelos – What would your Berlin botanists think of Cape Oxalis coming up after such a winter! For the first time I have been able to compare Scilla campan. & non Scriptus: & am satisfied of their diversity. Have you heard of H^y Fox’s intended marriage ^<4> –

Your Aff
W F S

The Marchesa Grimal[di]^<5> has left Florence for England with her pictures evidently speculating upon you

Henry Talbot Esq^r
Sackville Street

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Notes:

1. John William Ward, 1^st Earl Dudley (d. 1833). Foreign Minister under Canning (April 1827–May 1828).

2. Gen John Fane, 11^th Earl of Westmoreland (1784–1859). He was minister plenipotentary in Florence, 1814–1830, resident minister at Berlin, 1841–1851, and minister at Vienna 1851–1855.

3. Discovered by Viscountess Hawarden in some vineyards near Florence and studied by WTHFS.

4. Henry Fox, 4^th Baron Holland (1802-1859) married on 9 May 1833. This does not match other approximately datable elements of this letter, so he may have intended marriage more than once.

5. Characters missing (torn leaf). See Doc. No: 01564 of 25 June 1827 and Doc. No: 01563 of 22 June 1827, which corroborates 1827 (probably May when tulips are in bloom) as the date for this letter.