TALBOT1149

Melbury ¹
Jan 7

My dear Henry

I hear there is a chance of Lord Granville’s ² not going to the Hague at any rate till February, & it is even said that he will not go there at all, but replace Sir C. Stuart ³ at Paris, which would be a change greatly for the better as far as concerns me. So that I hope certainly to see you in Dorsetshire before I go – & we should be all very glad to know when you will be able to come – for as I heard from Bowood ⁴ the other day, they leave it for London the 1^st feb. so you must pay your visit there soon.

Your Iris & Ornithogalum exscapum are coming up very nicely – & most of my dead looking things coming out again for the spring We have a magnolia grandiflora just in blow on an east wall which is unseasonable. Pray bring some seed of Lithospermum orientale with you, I forgot to gather it. All the Italian seeds have withstood the cold as yet.

Had you time to look over my dried plants with Jane? ⁵ I think you must have remarked those which you named at Naples Teucrium chamædrys which have a much larger flower than the common T. c. of the gardens. We have aster reflexus of the cape growing out here perfectly well. Have you paid your visit to M^r Dillwyn. ⁶ Pray let me know when you are likely to come for I want Buckland ⁷ to meet you, as he is to pay me a visit this winter going to Devonshire or returning

In case I should not see you I want to know whether you have fixed any time for going abroad – because as John ⁸ is going to Italy & Saverio ⁹ is to attend him he wishes to know if it would be possible for him to travel with you to Genoa where he expects to meet a friend the unfortunate M^r Baillie who was whas sent away from Ch Ch ¹⁰ the other day who will go on with him to Naples & the South of Italy & has a design upon Greece. Let me know what you think of this plan –

Y^r aff^te
W T H F S

Lady Susan ¹¹ is getting much better & we have good accounts from TorquayLet us know how Charlotte ¹² is & whether May Mary ¹³ has got home her great tooth