Tunbridge Wells
May 23d 1811
My Dearest Henry
Your book is this moment unpacked & will be dispatched to Brighton to night. Pray have it enquired for at the Greyhound in East Street which is where it is to be left by the Tunbridge Carrier, & let me know if you get it safe. We got here yesterday Evening after a very pleasant journey the whole Country alentour <1> looked so green & fresh, & smelt so sweet it was quite delicious, “the breath of Nature & her endless bloom” – We stopt at a Farm house by the way side where we saw a woman milking her Cows & had some new milk which was very refreshing. The situation of this house is remarkably pretty, quite out of sight of the Town, & a great many Trees near it, which is a most agreable [sic] contrast to the barrenness of Brighton –
I hope you received the oranges which I sent & a Letter with them
God bless you my Darling Ever yours
E F
W. H. F. Talbot Esqr
Revd Dr Hooker’s <2>
Rotting Dean
Brighton
Tunbridge Wells – May 23. 1811 – <3>
Notes:
1. Round about.
2. 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.
3. Written in another hand at the back of address panel.