TALBOT2000

Melbury ¹

8 May

My dear Henry

I suppose you will see Charlotte ² while she is in London, pray tell her I would write her all sorts of directions if I knew where she was going or where to write to her. We did not believe the marriage had actually taken place till we received the Cake.

I send you a Geranium to be named, there is a great deal of it here Among other things we have anemone Narcissiflora very fine, Lupinus Polyphyllus double N. poeticus, Anemone hortensis dichotoma & sylvestris & Tulipa Celsiana I was more lucky with Clusiana than you as a few did flower but in small proportion to the offsets – The Evershot ³ tulip is a great beauty – I mean to cultivate it assiduously – it is also to be seen in the gardens of Catistock. ⁴ As I am making out the genus tell me if one is bound in constituting a species to consider any other than the wild plant & its wild varieties? I think not & that the difference observed in cultivated sorts need only be put in a note. I shall send you a synopsis as soon as it is finally made out. Pray impress on Charlotte the expediency of digging up roots &c & of giving a shilling to the gardener of the Villa Durazzo allo Zerbino for which he will weed his walks & give her a peck of Colchicum.

Y^r Aff^te

W F S

Dorchester, May Eight 1830 Ilchester ⁵
H. Talbot Esq^r
Sackville S^t
London