Harrow <1>
July 2d 1815
My Dear Mamma,
Lord Northwick <2> told me he was certain that the Dukes of Kent & Sussex <3> are coming on Speechday, & will get us a Holiday. I am to expect you & Mr Feilding, <4> am I not? Pray send my black Coat, as soon as it is made. I am surprized you should not have heard, what the Courier has been dinning into our ears for this fortnight nearly; that the battle <5> was decided at the Village of La belle Alliance; <6> - He is quite indignant that the name is not generally adopted. I had rather, I think, spend my holidays with you, than at Penrice, <7> this year, unless you stay in London. - I think the laminæ of a foolish man's brain, to be like a coarse net, which lets everything slip through, & retains nothing: but that the brain of a wise man is like a fine sieve which retains the solid information it receives & lets trifles, like dust, pass through - I think the Prayer which we had today, on account of the late Victory, very well written. It does not appear to me that the Government are afraid to publish the returns of killed & wounded, for Ld Wellington <8> has not yet sent them. - What do you think of the National Monument <9> which is to be erected? - I hope it will be something worthy of the British Nation, & not such an affair as the Chinese Pagoda <10> is. - I think it should be a Temple. I hope the Prince Regent <11> will not superintend it, for if he does, I am afraid it will be a puerile performance indeed - You do not tell me your opinions concerning Buonaparte. <12> Why do you think he does not deserve to die: & how can you think him a better man than Richard III? <13> I think him far worse than any you mention: & his conduct of late has been extremely mean, & cowardly. Last year you thought him wise, in not having killed himself, as the world expected: but can he hope to dupe Europe twice? - Are we to grant him an asylum here, if he wants it? Except perhaps in the Tower of London. - Tell me about Tom Strangways. <14>
I remain Yr Affte Son.
W H F Talbot.
The Lady Elisabeth Feilding
31 Sackville St
London
Notes:
1. Harrow School: WHFT attended from 1811-1815 and his son Charles from 1855-1859.
2. John Rushout, 2nd Lord Northwick (1770-1859).
3. Edward Augustus, Duke of Kent (1767-1820), and Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex (1773-1843).
4. Rear Admiral Charles Feilding (1780-1837), Royal Navy; WHFT's step-father.
5. The battle at Waterloo on 18 June 1815.
6. La belle Alliance, a village in central Belgium, was the site of Napoleon's command post. The battle of Waterloo is sometimes known as the battle of La belle Alliance, although the Duke of Wellington did not accept the Prussian suggestion that the battle should bear that name.
7. Penrice Castle and Penrice House, Gower, Glamorgan, 10 mi SW of Swansea: home of Christopher Rice Mansel Talbot.
8. Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington (1769-1852), was in command of the forces which defeated Napoleon.
9. Wellington's triumph over Napoleon at Waterloo in mid-June immediately led to suggestions of a national monument in London; the idea was raised in Parliament as early as 28 June. The monument to Wellington, a colossal statue of Achilles made from melted-down enemy cannon, was financed by subscription from the women of Britain and placed near Hyde Park Corner in 1822. Numerous other monuments to Wellington and Waterloo were erected after 1815 throughout Britain.
10. Chinese Pagoda, Kew Gardens, London, was designed by William Chambers in 1761.
11. George IV, Prince Regent, later King of England (1762-1830).
12. Napoleon I, Emperor of France (1804-1814/1815).
13. Richard III, King of England (1452-1485).
14. Lt Col Thomas Fox Strangways (1790-1854), a cousin of WHFT's mother, Lady Elisabeth Feilding and the son of her uncle Charles. He was grievously wounded at the battle of Waterloo but recovered unexpectedly and continued his military career. At the rank of Brigadier-General, he was killed in the Crimean War at the Battle of Inkerman on 5 November 1854.