TALBOT7701

Mount Edgcumbe¹
Sept^r 30^th 1858

My dear Henry

Lord M^t Edgcumbe² has begged me to write & prefer a request to you from him. – There is a man here, I think he is Master Shipwright in Keyham Dockyard, to whom he is under some obligation about his Yacht &c He is a particularly clever man, & a pleasant one to speak to – & though a Shipwright by profession, he is a great amateur of Photography.³ Now Lord M^t E. is anxious to make him some acknowledgem^t for his kindness – & can think of nothing so suitable, or at least which would be so acceptable, as a fine or curious specimen of your Art – & he wishes me to say that he w^d be greatly obliged to you, if you would give him a specimen or specimens of the kind, as [illegible deletion] emanating from yourself, the fountain head of the Art. Can & will you do so? He says that something curious or new, w^d do almost better than anything very beautiful – at least quite as well – & as we hear by a side wind that you have just brought out a new art, of sun engraving, it is perhaps a propitious moment to make the request. –

I hope Constance⁴ has received ere now a haunch of Venison. It was sent off on Tuesday, & I think had better be eaten at once, as it does not keep well this year on account of the mild weather I suppose. I suppose you admire the comet⁵ every evening? It is the first comet I ever distinctly saw, in my life – & certainly last night it was magnificent! The atmosphere was beautifully clear – & the end of it’s [sic] tail could be traced almost up to the Great Bear, I think – At all events it was longer than the distance between the 2 stars I have marked A & B⁶ – I send a sketch from memory

Y^rs aff^tely
Caroline

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