14th Novr
My Dear Henry
How I grieve over the trees! & the old elms! & the young Tulip tree! It puts me in mind of that comparison in Homer, of a young Warrior killed on the plains of Troy – It begins
“As the young Olive in some sylvan scene
Crowned with . . . . . . . . eternal green
Lifts the tall head with snowy blossoms fair
and plays & dances to the gentle air
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . .
a lovely ruin now defaced & dead!
I forget the intermediate lines
With what acharnement <1> the Times <2> pursues the Duke of Sussex, <3> did you see this?
“The Literary Duke”
Date Obolum Belisario <4>
The P.R.S. <5> is nought to me
Unless you grant me L.S.D. <6>
I have been very ill for a fortnight & am just now beginning to recover – I received your last Letter <7> one day that I was particularly unwell, & I cannot tell you the gleam of pleasure that it gave me to find you were so pleased with the Anglo Saxon Dictionary. <8>
I wish you were coming sooner than the 25th because I hope to leave town the 27th & your meuble <9> is waiting & cannot be finished till you have settled several thin<gs> about it, which we <should> do together –
Henry Fox Talbot
Notes:
1. Relentlesness.
2. The Times (London).
3. Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex (1773–1843).
4. Give a <farthing> to Belisarius. Belisarius ( ca.505–565), leading military figure in the 6th century who was reduced to begging in the streets of Constantinople.
5. Presidency of the Royal Society.
6. Pounds, Shillings and Pence.
7. See Doc. No: 03749.
8. J. Bosworth, A Dictionary of the Anglo-Saxon Language (London: Longman and Co, 1838). [See Doc. No: 03749].
9. Piece of furniture.