TALBOT989

Cheltenham
June 30^th

My dear Henry

I had a letter from Jane ¹ today in which she tells me they shall cross from Havre to Southampton, so I am afraid you will miss her after all which will be very provoking, she is to be at Southampton on the 17 or 18 but does not intend staying there. – How I wish you were coming to Penrice ²; I hope you will not let much time pass over our heads before we meet again & next time you come to England, mind you set down Penrice as the place best worth going to! – We are to set out homewards on Tuesday but as we pay a visit by the way I suppose we shall not be there before Saturday. Charlotte ³ is not so well today but on the whole she is much better than when we left Town & the others are quite well & merry as grigs. – Pray send me word if you thought Kit ⁴ much altered, of course I see him always the same as when he was quite little, only that he seems to grow taller every time he comes home to us! – Your account of Cap^t Orme[?] amused us very much indeed, what a dreadful thunder storm ⁵ it must have been, we had none in London you know, the day before we set out from thence. – I think the epigram you sent me on D^r Marsh ⁶ is not only severe but illnatured for whilst he was Bishop of Llandaff I heard nothing against him that I can recollect except that he was proud.–

You never said a word in your letter, about the vetch I sent you, ⁷ was it the V. sylvatica? or what was it, pray send me word, if you can remember. I hav[e]⁸ more if you forget what it like [sic]. – Jane sends me word met with such a beautiful pea (crimson) in the forest of Mezière, ⁹ I quite long to see her dried flowers she tells me she has such beauties I hope she will not lose them, tho she has been careless enough to lose her work bag containing all sorts of things. –

Give our love to Aunt Lily. ¹⁰ – All send their love to you. –

I am your aff^ate coz
Mary

Your Primula flourishes very much, Scrub[? thought too much I suppose for he bit off the leaves in one or two places but has none [sic] no harm. – We have got a most beautiful dwarf double oleander coming to blow, it came from Paris, M^rs Scott gave it to Mamma ¹¹ & we carry it with us because it is so precious. We sent home a bundle of plants from hence, but Mamma could not bring herself to move the primula so it travells with us. –

W. H. F. Talbot Esq^re
31 Sackville Street
London