Dummer House
Basingstoke ^<1>

June 2.

My dear Sir,

I am happy to be able to give a good account of Charles ^<2> both as to his general health and good conduct. I am pleased to see that he has nearly lost that unsociability of disposition, which at one time tended to make him uncomfortable with his companions, as he now enters with all their games with zest and is lively and good-tempered toward the others –

Of his lessons I can also speak satisfactorily, and I was particularly pleased with a set of verses he brought me last week on a given “Subject,” (the Moon) as they showed invention and also a neatness of expression – and altho’ a false quantity marred their correctness, the general result was very good – I think that I have before mentioned his defects in composition are unattention to Grammar & quantity, not from ignorance but from want of ease, as he can always see the errors himself–

He seems dispos’d to play Cricket now, but the weather has been so unfavorable that we have hardly been able to go out for any practice –

I beg to remain,
Yours very truly

James A. Williams

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Notes:

1. Basingstoke, 50 mi SW of London.

2. Charles Henry Talbot (1842–1916), antiquary & WHFT’s only son.