TALBOT3232

Lacock
Saturday 26^th March

My Dear Constance

I am sure you must be a great comfort to your sisters ¹ and I daresay Ela ² contributes a little to occupy their thoughts – Do not you think they are glad now, that we did not send and fetch her away? I am delighted to hear that the ball I gave turned out so well & proved so good a dancing ball, when she is tired of it put it away till she has forgotten it & then it will be as good as new to her again.

The Pyrus Japonica on the south front is in beautiful flower, & the fruittree [sic] beneath the dining room window is expanding – It is very growing weather, continual showers & not cold. The birds are beginning to sing very merrily, for in truth they were tired of the long winter. I sent M^rs Moore ³ a nosegay, but she was gone to Bath therefore I am afraid my present will wither – Harriet ⁴ has applied to me for an advance of wages, she says it was promised to her some time ago.

I have not received any later accounts from Nice. I think they ⁵ cannot delay setting out much longer – I have had the honor of 2 visits from M^r Paley, ⁶ the subjects of our conversation were of course the poor, pauperism & the poor laws, much the same as we usually discourse of. I am going to apply to the manufacturer at Halifax to receive a family of the name of Mountjoy, but I am afraid their application comes too late. They would not go when they were invited.

I will now give you a list of your seeds that are coming up in the Greenhouse.

Silene picta	Lupinus rivularis
Silene nutans	Gilia bicolor
Silene Armeria	Gilia achillifolia
Geranium from Geneva	Œnothera Lindleyana
White Everlasting from Geneva	Malope
Yellow Everlasting	Escholtzia
Phacelia tanacetifolia	Collinsia grandiflora

In the garden we have Erythroniums in flower & double Daffodils, very fine ones, besides what I mentioned before. There are plenty of Wood Anemonies [sic] and Primroses in the shrubbery & all the bushes are coming out in leaf, daily advancing, the weather being warm enough tho’ very stormy and changeable.

Yours aff^tly
Henry

M^rs Talbot
Post Office
Southampton