April 21st 1815 <1>
My Dear Henry
Thank you for the most amusing Letter <2> I have received from you a great while – Kit <3> does not seem to be so gay, for he writes to his Mother <4> that he cannot bear the thoughts of your leaving Harrow <5> & that he shall be quite dismal. I believe she will be married in about ten days, but it is not settled yet.
Mary & Jane <6> went to the assembly at Lansdowne House <7> last Night – 800 people were asked. Constellations of the new Knights appeared there, amongst others your old friend Sir Graham Moore <8> had a Star glittering on his coat.
Have you heard of Lord Auckland’s accident he was thrown out of a Tilburyv & hurt his head very much, he is a great deal better. Charlotte, Isabella & Emma <10> left town with Miss Fry yesterday, they are to visit Dr & Mrs Fowler & then go on to Penrice. <11>
Is it your new Watch that goes so ill? I mean the one Mr F. gave you the other day? There can be but one opinion as to the generosity of Buonaparte’s <12> having released the Duc d’Angoulême <13> the Bourbons would not have treated him with such lenity if they had caught him. If B. had kept the Duc d’A. merely as a hostage without doing him any harm, it could not have been reckoned unfair in political Warfare.
I shall not go to Harrow the Speech day, unless you wish it.
Notes:
1. Written in another hand.
3. Christopher Rice Mansel Talbot (1803–1890), immensely wealthy landowner, mathematician & politician; WHFT’s Welsh cousin.
4. Lady Mary Lucy Cole, née Strangways, first m. Talbot (1776–1855), WHFT’s aunt.
5. Harrow School: WHFT attended from 1811–1815 and his son Charles from 1855-1859.
6. Mary Thereza Talbot (1795–1861), WHFT’s cousin, and Jane Harriot Nicholl, née Talbot (1796–1874).
7. Lansdowne House, London: home of the Marquis of Lansdowne, WHFT's uncle and cousins.
8. Sir Graham Moore (1764–1843), British Admiral.
9. George Eden, 1st Earl of Auckland (1784–1849), Governor General of India. A Tilbury was a light two-wheeled carriage, sprung over high wheels, sporty, fast and dangerous - it was manufactured by the London coachbuilders, Tilbury.
10. Charlotte Louisa 'Charry' Traherne, née Talbot (1800–1880), WHFT’s cousin; Isabella Catherine Franklen, née Talbot (1804–1874); Emma Thomasina Llewelyn, née Talbot (1806–1881), photographer; WHFT’s Welsh cousin.
11. Penrice Castle and Penrice House, Gower, Glamorgan, 10 mi SW of Swansea: home of Christopher Rice Mansel Talbot.
12. Napoleon I, Emperor of France (1804–1814/15). [See Doc. No: 00644].
13. Louis-Antoine de Bourbon, Duc d’Angoulême (1775–1844) last dauphin of France and a prominent figure in the restoration of the Bourbon line after the defeat of Napoleon in 1814.