Brighton
March 26th
My Dear Henry
Pray send me a description of your Fête <1> yesterday, for which I hope you was [sic] in good time. I am not sure whether you meant that French book of yours to be sent back, but it went yesterday Evening with the Figs and Comb. I will now give you the Persian Fable you asked for, “A drop of water fell out of a cloud into the Sea, & finding itself lost in such an immensity of fluid matter, broke out into the following reflection, “Alas! what an insignificant creature am I, in this prodigious ocean of waters, my existence is of no concern to the Universe, & I am less than the least of the works of God” – it so happened that an Oyster which lay in the neighborhood of this Drop, chanced to swallow it in the midst of this humble soliloquy. The Drop lay a great while hardening in the shell, till by degrees it was ripened into a pearl, which is now that famous one fixed on the Diadem of the Sophi of Persia <2>.”
So you see Humility was rewarded by Distinction. Quicunque enim se evehit, deprimetur; quique se deprimit, is evehetur <3>.
Direct your next to No 15 Steyne Place <4>
Yours affectionately
E T Feilding
I hope you were not tired with your long walk yesterday
William Henry Fox Talbot Esqr
Revd Dr Hooker’s <5>
Rotting Dean <6>
Brighton March 26. 1811 – <7>
Notes:
1. Letter not located.
2. The Persian Gulf appears to have been the most ancient source of the finest natural pearls.
3. For whosoever exalts himself shall be humbled, and he who humbles himself shall be exalted.
4. Brighton.
5. 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.
6. Rottingdean, East Sussex, 4 mi SE of Brighton: WHFT attended school there from 1808–1811.
7. Written in another hand at the back of address panel.