Saturday
My Dear Henry
I Wish you to write to me & tell me what you think of your illness, & whether you wish for anything. I wish I could go & see you at Easter as you seem to be very happy by your account of yourself. That Fête <1> you describe I should like to have seen. How do Pyramus & Thisbe <2> go on? Caroline <3> has not been well. She looks at your picture every day & calls it the “other Henry” –
There were riots here last night on account of Sir Francis Burdett <4> being sent to the Tower. I suppose you are very peaceable at Rotting Dean <5>, & do not think much about politics.
Yrs affly
E Feilding
London April 7. 1810 – Chs Lemon <6>
Wm H. Fox Talbot Esqre
Mr Hooker’s <7>
Rotting dean
Brighton
London, April seven
[enclosure]<8>
H s1<9>
Im [illegible]
Her
Con
[Fel?]
Notes:
1. Letter not located.
2. Babylonian characters used in Ovid’s Metamorphosis, and William Shakespeare’s, A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
3. Caroline Augusta Edgcumbe, née Feilding, Lady Mt Edgcumbe (1808–1881); WHFT’s half-sister.
4. Sir Francis Burdett (1770–1844), radical MP. He was a defender of freedom of speech. He was imprisoned for alleged breach of Parliamentary privilege, having published a defence of an imprisoned radical orator.
5. Rottingdean, East Sussex, 4 mi SE of Brighton: WHFT attended school there from 1808–1811.
6. Sir Charles Lemon (1784–1868), politician & scientist; WHFT’s uncle.
7. Rev. Thomas Redman Hooker (1762-1838), WHFT's tutor at Rottingdean and a most interesting character. His career prospects were seemingly cut short when his father lost his fortune to an industrial accident. Hooker became the private secretary to the Duke of Dorset, learned French, took Holy Orders and through the Duke's influence established an influential school. His pupils included the nephews of the Duke of Wellington and of Napoleon Bonaparte. He was also active in the local smuggling ring. See Arthur R. Ankers, revised by Michael Smith, Sussex Cavalcade (Sevenoaks: Hawthorns Publications, Ltd., 1992), pp. 97-100.
8. Possibly in WHFT’s hand written at the back of address panel.
9. 1 shilling.