Sackville St <1>
30th Decr 1816
My Dear Henry
Is not the fable of the Country man & Adder <2> in the old original Æsop? <3> I am sure I remember something about colubrian in sine forever, but I can find nothing like it in Æsopic Phrygis Fabulæ 1681. – I have found you three easy & pretty, Italian books, & in Modern type & orthography which makes a good deal of difference till one is pretty well used to the language. One [illegible deletion] of them too is accented which you will find of great use in resolving your doubts.
Lord A <4>. franked your Letter yesterday to Jane <5> He goes to Paris for 3 Weeks, next Sunday.
Why have you so much less to say to me than you had at Harrow? <6> pray expound.
I shall send your Books tomorrow – I think they will be as follows –
Italian Dictionary
Do Grammar
Favoli di Grillo <7>
Miscellanea Prosa Scelta di Lettere famigliari dessi au tin frin colobio Commedia scelta di Goldoni <8>
Do you like to have the Examiner <9>
Notes:
1. 31 Sackville Street, London residence of the Feildings, often used as a London base by WHFT.
2. She probably means the Farmer and his dog, a fable by Æsop.
3. Æsop, legendary Greek teller of fables.
4. George Eden, 1st Earl of Auckland (1784–1849), Governor General of India.
5. Jane Harriot Nicholl, née Talbot (1796–1874).
6. Harrow School: WHFT attended from 1811–1815 and his son Charles from 1855-1859.
7. Grillo’s Fables. [See Doc. No: 00754].
8. This sentence is a curious amalgamation of Italian and French. ‘Miscellanea Prosa Scelta’, that is, ‘A selection of prose’, probably referring to a work by Carlo Goldoni (1707–1793), Italian dramatist and great reformer of Italian comedy.
9. Examiner, newspaper launched in 1808.