Melbury <1>
My dear Henry
Do not think me ungrateful for your kind attention in giving me your welcome & interesting report of dear Carolines marriage <2> one which I trust we are all to rejoice in
On Monday I hope for my introduction here – I have been in despair for the attraits of Ab: <3> but now the Sun again shines & I am easier – I brough [sic] from Ab yesterday in blow a new Iris of Wms <4> from Sicily it as brilliant blue with strong yellow pencilling at three points & smells sweet grows dwarfish & has quite silvery sheathings about its stem come & see – more are about to blow & one in Pot I hope when my acquaintance may be more perfect
Yr Affecte
M[illegible signature]<5>
[illegible deletion] H. F. Talbot Esqre
Notes:
1. Melbury, Dorset: one of the Fox Strangways family homes; WHFT was born there.
2. Lady Caroline Augusta Edgcumbe, née Feilding (1808-1881); WHFT's half-sister; Lady of the Bedchamber to Queen Victoria, 1840–1854 & 1863–1865. She married Ernest Augustus Edgcumbe, Lord Valletort, 3rd Earl of Mt Edgcumbe (1797–1861) on 6 December 1831.
3. Attractions of Abbotsbury, Dorset: home of William Thomas Horner Fox Strangways.
4. William Thomas Horner Fox Strangways, 4th Earl of Ilchester (1795–1865), botanist, art collector & diplomat.
5. Signature and part of the valediction obscured under the seal. She signed her other letters Maria.