TALBOT696

May 2^d 1816

My Dear Henry

Your last Letter made me quite hungry & I wished for an Agnean en Epigramme. ¹ Have you been to the Jardin des plantes? ² Tell me what you have seen that you like best. Jane ³ thinks it must be the Ptarogonium Smithii you found. Was it? They leave town the day after tomorrow. I hope you will lose no opportunity of Writing; your Letters amuse me so very much. Particularly the view of the Balloon!!! Tell M^r F. ⁴ that when Prince Leopold ⁵ pronounced the words in the marriage ceremony “with all my worldly goods I thee endow” Pss Charlotte ⁶ could not forbear an involuntary smile. Likewise tell him I should like some silk Scarfs, of glowing colours, nothing Biche ⁷ or Quakerish and that is all I want. Tho’ If I suddenly found myself in the middle of the Palais Royal ⁸ I should not exclaim like Socrates at the Fair at Athens, Quantis non egeo! ⁹

Adieu Mon bien aimé ¹⁰
conservatevi ed amatemi e scrivetemi ¹¹

William Henry Fox Talbot
à Paris