Rottingdean <1>
Septbr 17 1808
My dear Mama
bathing goes on very well with me I have only bathed twice the history of the Jews is very amusing we say half or a little bit of the catechism. Charrington’s home is at Brighton he went last Saturday for a week & Enderby for 10 days. I am as far as Mus Modo Vulgus in <2d?> line of the 65th Page I will give you some pretty lines I found in a book –
the Shepherds evening Song
to thee, great painter of the smiling plain
to thee, the swelling note of pray’r shall rise
ye sighing zephyrs catch the grateful strain
& bear it trembling to yon distant skies
the purling brook the cultivated hill
the green clad pasture & the chrystal spring
the broad majestic oak the murmuring rill
the works of thine Almighty Lord I sing
turn over
the topmost turret of yon ancient tow’r
the bleating tenants of my charming vale
the silent moon the breezy wisp’ring bow’r
& waving groves shall listen to the tale
how charming is the rosebud in it’s prime
how grateful is the soft descending show’r
how glows the virgin Lily smells the thym<e>
how sweet the scent of every blushing flow’r
where e’re I turn I see thy goodness spread
on every rising hill & sloping dale
eternal bounty rears it’s golden head
then let me muse thy praise for words would <pale?>
it is very pretty so put in the Gentle <river?> book put in my account book Gun 1d whip 6d drawing of the automaton at Maillardet’s <2> & going to Maillardet<’s> 2d send me some stinsford <3> Beer
Your affectionate son
W. H. F. Talbot
Lady E Feilding
Coombe Farm
Kingston
Surrey
Notes:
1. Rottingdean, East Sussex, 4 mi SE of Brighton: WHFT attended school there from 1808–1811.
2. Jean Henry Nicolas Maillardet (1745–1830), famous watch maker who in the early 1800s became a traveling showman and exhibited mechanical pieces.
3. Stinsford, Dorsetshire, 2 mi E of Dorcester.