Castleford, <1>
Jan ry 27:th 1816.
My Dear Mamma,
We spent a very pleasant day at Sprotborough: <2> Major General the Honourable Sir Edward Stopford, Knight Commander of the Most Honourable Military Order of the Bath, <3> was there: & Doctor Chorley dined - It is about 20 miles from hence - I had not seen Joe Copley since we were at Brighton in 1811.<4> I think he is one of the nicest little boys I ever saw - Madame, & her Parrot are very well - I begin to think that my poney is perfect "in the twelve moralle vertues" as Spenser hath it. We have now finished our Christmas visits, which I am not sorry for, and Stewart & Nuttall <5> will be returning very soon, which I am rather sorry for. Mr Feilding <6> sent me Ld Erskine's <7> Epigram. I think it is good, but it is an old joke, & has been in the newspapers some time. You did not send Goldoni; <8> I don't want him yet - Ne quid Nimis - <9> I find the Miss Copley's <10>understand Italian & Spanish perfectly - Pray set about teaching Caroline, Sanscrit. <11> I am glad to hear she has been happy on her birthday, I remember perfectly my 8th Birthday, at Weymouth, I had 8 Dishes, & was very happy: Tomorrow fortnight I ought to dine on 16.. You answered my letter with such amazing punctuality, replied to all questions in it with such extraordinary accuracy, & in fine couched the superscription in terms at once so facetious, & so classical that were I to describe my feelings on the occasion I should say, "Obstupeci, et vox faucibus haesit!!!" <12> - As for my new cousin's names, Henry, I expected: -- & Charlotte, I expected, tho' not from Pss. Charlotte. <13> - and Harry, I expect "Itane cerses?" "Wot ye not so" <14> - I shall like very much to have the Edinburgh Review, <15> but do not wish for the Examiner <16> any more. - Pray tell me how to pronounce "vizj" in Italian, for I am at a loss; unless it be like "vizzi" - and pray construe for me this passage - "Mi sono avvezzo a difendermi da rei vizj" <17> - What is rei, <18> I can't find it out - And what is, "sol contento". <19> is "sol" put for "suole" from "solere" he used to be content? - I have an Ecritoire, <20> but it is full, and consequently, if any credit is due to Euclid, <21> it is not an easy matter to put anything else in. - I take it, that letters & account books, & pocketbooks, & writing paper, & pens, & sealing wax, are all solids, to wit, they have length, breadth, & thickness. Have they not? -
As for my room, servants have eyes, & tables no drawers - I know the anagram you sent me, perfectly - Do you know that famous one on Pilate's <22>question to Christ - "Quid est veritas". <23> answered anagrammatically - "Est vir qui adest <24>" - The justest answer that could possibly be given.
I remain, r Affte Son
W. H. F. Talbot
In your next parcel pray send me a short-sighted glass, No 5. I believe: dependent, or rather pensile, hangeable round the neck by a ribbon: For my present one is Execrable
The Lady Elisabeth Feilding
31 Sackville St
London
Ferrybridge 174 <25>
Notes:
1. Castleford, Yorkshire, 10 mi SE of Leeds, where WHFT went to school from 1815-1816.
2. Sprotborough Hall, Doncaster.
3. Sir Edward Stopford (1766-1837), 2nd son of the 2nd Earl of Courtown, member of the 41st Regiment.
4. Joseph William Copley, (1804-1883), later 4th and last Baronet.
5. School mates of WHFT's, whom he apparently found stupid and tormenting.
6. Rear Admiral Charles Feilding (1780-1837), Royal Navy; WHFT's step-father.
7. Probably Thomas Erskine, 1st Baron (1750-1823). His Epigram on Walter Scott appeared in the Manchester Volunteer. [See Doc. No: 00688].
8. Probably a reference to the work of Carlo Goldoni (1707-1793), Italian dramatist and great reformer of Italian comedy.
9. Nothing in excess.
9. Maria (d. 1879) and Elizabeth Mary (d. 1887), daughters of Captain Sir Joseph Copley (1769-1838), 3rd Baronet.
11. Caroline Augusta Edgcumbe, née Feilding, Lady Mt Edgcumbe (1808-1881); WHFT's half-sister. Sanscrit means prepared, cultivated, purified, refined. Sanscrit language, the classical literary language of the Hindus of India.
12. This probably derives from Virgil, Aeneid, book ii, line 774, when Aeneas tells Dido about losing Creusa: 'Obstipui, steteruntque comae et vox faucibus haesit.'
13. Princess Charlotte (1744-1817), daughter of George IV, Prince Regent, later King of England.
14. Probably derives from Romans 11:3. 'Wot ye not what the scripture saith of Elias?'
15. Edinburgh Review. [See Doc. No: 00679].
16. Examiner, newspaper launched in 1808. [See Doc. No: 00677].
17. I am accustomed to defending myself from guilty vices.
18. Guilty.
19. Only content. WHFT has apparently mixed his grammar, 'sol' being a musical note, or perhaps he meant it as a shortened form of 'solo', and 'suole' third person singular of a verb 'solere', to be in the habit (of doing something).
20. Writing-desk.
21. Euclid of Alexandria, the famous Greek geometrician.
22. Pontius Pilate, Roman prefect of Judaea (26-36) under the emperor Tiberius.
23. What is truth?
24. It is the man who is here.
25. Printed text.