Eton Coll.
Nov. 26. 1830.
My dear Talbot,
I think I mentioned to you in the Spring my intention of taking little pupils. As I am about to act upon that intention, and have secured a home, I must trouble you again on the subject. I am sure the recollection of y our old college intimacy will make you ready to serve me whenever you have an opportunity.
I have been lately presented to the rectory of a village you must know well from its neighbourhood to Normanton, Lyndon in Rutland. The house has been lately put, I am told, into excellent repair; and its situation in the midst of my own friends makes me expect to find it a very agreeable residence. I wish that Porter <1> was still the curate of Wing<2> ; but he has removed to Barnack on the other side of Stamford<3> . I find myself obliged to take pupils, but have resolved to consult my comfort by only taking little boys, who have never been at school. My terms for such are 100 gs: they will be higher if I keep any after twelve years old.
We are living here in the midst of constables & yeomanry, & hear of fires <4> almost every morning. We There have not yet been any in our immediate neighbourhood. I suppose you rejoice in the change of administration: I have some faith in Lords Grey & Lansdowne, <5> but cannot trust or like Lord Brougham <6> -
Ever, dear Talbot, Yrs very truly
T. K. Arnold
W. F. Talbot Esq
Captn Fielding's [sic] R.N
Sackvile [sic] St
Piccadilly
Notes:
1. Charles Porter (1797-1877), fellow Cambridge student with WHFT and clergyman.
2. Wing, Rutland, near Normanton and Lyndon.
3. Barnack, near Stamford, Lincolnshire.
4. A reference to the 'Swing Riots' of 1830. By the end of December 1830 nearly two thousand people had been arrested and were awaiting trial, of which nineteen people were executed.
5. Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey (1764-1845), statesman, and Henry Petty Fitzmaurice, 3rd Marquess of Lansdowne (1780-1863), MP, WHFT's uncle.
6. Henry Peter Brougham, Baron of Brougham & Voux (1778-1868), Lord Chancellor.