Rottingdean <1>
September 11th 1808
My Dear Mama
I am sorry I did not answer your letter sooner but I shall only write on Sundays. I begin bathing tomorrow. I like Mulberries very well, they grow in Mr Hooker’s <2> Garden so do Peaches, Nectarines, Apricots, Apples, Plums, Raspberries, Currants and Strawberries tomorrow I go to Brighton with Garlies, <3> Ryder, Fitzroy Charles Manning and Charles Hade to see Maillardet’s <4> Exhibition again as I like it very much write in my account Book “Halberds and Swords” fivepence. I have had another VVG in the report on the same day as 7 other Boys & we had a half holiday for it. Charrington is gone home for a week and Enderby for a week or ten days.
Your Affectionate son
W H F Talbot
Lady E Feilding
Coombe Farm
Kingston
Surrey
Notes:
1. Rottingdean, East Sussex, 4 mi SE of Brighton: WHFT attended school there from 1808–1811.
2. Rev. Thomas Redman Hooker (1762-1838), WHFT's tutor at Rottingdean and a most interesting character. His career prospects were seemingly cut short when his father lost his fortune to an industrial accident. Hooker became the private secretary to the Duke of Dorset, learned French, took Holy Orders and through the Duke's influence established an influential school. His pupils included the nephews of the Duke of Wellington and of Napoleon Bonaparte. He was also active in the local smuggling ring. See Arthur R. Ankers, revised by Michael Smith, Sussex Cavalcade (Sevenoaks: Hawthorns Publications, Ltd., 1992), pp. 97-100.
3. Probably Randolph Stewart, 9th Earl of Galloway (b. 1800).
4. Jean Henry Nicolas Maillardet (1745–1830), famous watch maker who in the early 1800s became a traveling showman and exhibited mechanical pieces. [See Doc. No: 00449].