Dabton <1>
Thornhill
July 2d 1876
My dear Papa,
I received your two letters quite safely – and will have the seeds sown directly. The flower looks very pretty, and I hope it will thrive – the plants you gave me before were rather unfortunate, as they were planted out during a mild interval – before our last long frost in the Spring – so several of them perished – which I was sorry for, we protected them & did all we could – about half the number of plants are alive –
Thank you very much for the Records of the Past. <2> It complete <sic> the set and I am very glad to have it – Charles <3> leaves us tomorrow to go on to Ireland – I wish very much that he could arrange to come back here – before going South again – as he has had no time to benefit by the change of air – and we happen to have had people in the house, during his stay – so I should like to have had him a little when we were by ourselves . But he is afraid that he will not be able to manage to return on this occasion – The weather is very pleasant now, fresh & breezy: it rained very much yesterday, which must have done a great deal of good – and we have not enough hay cut yet to make that a consideration: Will you tell Rosamond <4> that I hope to write to her tomorrow – I have been busy sketching lately as much as I could – She will be sorry to hear that the Gapes <5> continue among the Chickens – it is very disappointing – We have got a new sort of forgetmenot in the garden for which we have no name – I cannot find out if it is a chance variety or not – it is a most lovely shade of blue – much deeper than the common colour, but much paler than the azorian – Our roses are doing very badly: we have had 2 dishes of inferior strawberries, & we are promised no apples or any other fruit, which is sad. Much love to all –
Yr affecte daughter
Tilly
Notes:
1. Dabton, Dumfriesshire: home of WHFT’s daughter Matilda.
2. Records of the Past being English Translations of the Assyrian and Egyptian Monuments (London: Samuel Bagster & Sons).
3. Charles Henry Talbot (1842–1916), antiquary & WHFT’s only son.
4. Rosamond Constance ‘Monie’ Talbot (1837–1906), artist & WHFT’s 2nd daughter.
5. A disease of birds of which gaping is a symptom, caused by a thread-worm.