Castleford <1>
30 Dec. 1815
My Dear Mamma,
I return the Epigrams <2> as per order. I don’t think the author has made the most of his subject. – Do you know by the bye that Helen <3> was from one to two hundred yrs old, at the time of the Trojan war? – She was sister of Castor & Pollux <4> who went to Colchis <5> with the Argonauts long before the wars of Troy. I see a new Italian Dictionary is just published; by Pacolino or some such name. The flood has risen to a height beyond what it has been for 2 or 3 years. An old woman was removed in a boat today from her house –
[illustration]<6>
I remain yr Affte Son
W. H. F. T.
[address panel:]
Lady Elisabeth Feilding
31 Sackville St
London
Notes:
1. Castleford, Yorkshire, 10 mi SE of Leeds, where WHFT went to school from 1815-1816.
2. Epigrams upon Helen of Troy. [See Doc. No: 01673].
3. Helen of Troy, wife of Menelaus, King of Sparta. [See Doc. No: 01673].
4. Twins of Greek mythology.
5. Ancient region at the eastern end of the Black Sea south of the Caucasus, in the western part of modern Georgia. In Greek mythology Colchis was the home of Medea and the destination of the Argonauts.
6. WHFT has sketched a self-portrait and put the closing in a speech bubble; the signature is followed by a illustration of a book? with key?