Sackville Street <1>
April 9th
My Dear Henry
I did not know that you cared about politics or news, or I would have told you before how the House of Commons voted for committing Sir Francis Burdett <2> to the Tower, for a libel upon it. He refused to go & the Mob surrounded his house to protect him, but this morning the Constables got in at his window & took him there by force. Tell me what Mr Hall thinks your illness was. Does he call it a jaundice Mary Talbot <3> went to Salisbury to day. I received the Sketch books very safe.
I am yours affy
E T Feilding
Lady Susan & Mr O'Brien <4> are in town
One soldier was killed by the mob, & several of the mob were killed today on Tower Hill where they made resistance to Sir F. B's being carried into the Tower.
London April eleventh 1810 Lansdowne <5>
Revd Mr Hooker's <6>
Rottingdean <7>
Sackville St April 9th 1810 - <8>
Notes:
1. 31 Sackville Street, London residence of the Feildings, often used as a London base by WHFT.
2. 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. [See Doc. No: 00510].
3. Probably Mary Thereza Talbot (1795-1861), WHFT's cousin.
4. Susannah Sarah Louisa O'Brien, née Strangways (1743-1827), WHFT's great aunt, and her husband, William O'Brien (1749-1815), actor, Secretary of the Bermudas and Receiver General of Dorset.
5. Henry Petty Fitzmaurice, 3rd Marquess of Lansdowne (1780-1863), MP, WHFT's uncle.
6. 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.
7. Rottingdean, East Sussex, 4 mi SE of Brighton: WHFT attended school there from 1808-1811.
8. Written in another hand at the back of address panel.