Burlington Street <1>
9 August
My dear Henry
I am very sorry I can not make one of the party to Mt Edgcumbe. <2> I am just now promised to various parts of the East of Engld, & could only spare a few days to Lacock or Brickworth <3> or at farthest to Abbotsbury <4> – I have promised a visit to Carclew <5> in autumn when I shall hope to find Caroline <6> still at Mt E. I was in hopes of catching all at Lacock.
Why do you not go to the Hartz by way of a new place? If you go to the Pyrenees step over them into Spain & bring some Aragonese bulbs some Lilio hyacinthus & seeds.
I am just come from Robert Browns <7> – who shewed me some most curious sections of petrified Portland Zamias, & Antigua palms, one of the latter with a leaf in it. Also a fruit like a Lycopodium something which he is going to publish.
Yr Affte
W F S
[envelope:]
Henry F. Talbot Esq
Lacock Abbey
Chippenham
Notes:
1. 31 Burlington Street, London home of William Thomas Horner Fox Strangways.
2. Mt Edgecumbe, near Plymouth: seat of the Earl of Mt Edgcumbe.
3. Brickworth House, Wiltshire, between Salisbury and Southampton, owned by Lord Nelson. It was the home of WHFT's uncle, John George Charles Fox Strangways (1803- 8 Sep 1859), MP. After he died,his widow, Lady Amelia, née Marjoribanks (d. 1886), had been staying in London. In preparation for her return, the fireplaces were lit, and on the evening of 27 May 1860 a fire broke out. In spite of the efforts of the neighbors, the fire, fanned by high winds, destroyed nearly all of the stately home and its contents, except for the servant's quarters. Only some furniture was saved from the conflagration.
4. Abbotsbury, Dorset: home of William Thomas Horner Fox Strangways.
5. Carclew, Cornwall, 3 mi N of Penryn: seat of Sir Charles Lemon.
6. Caroline Augusta Edgcumbe, née Feilding, Lady Mt Edgcumbe (1808–1881); WHFT’s half-sister.
7. Robert Brown (1773–1858), botanist, author of the Prodromus floræ Novæ Hollandiæ …, (1810).