19th May
My Dear Henry
You seem so mathematically inclined that I ought en bonne mere <1> to send you to Oxford to counteract it that you may not grow into a Rhomboidal shape, walk elliptically, or go off in a tangent. all which evils are imminent if you go to Cambridge. What do you think of the new method invented at Edinburgh by Professor Leslie, <2> of freezing water, it seems very ingenious by the account I read of it in the Morning Chronicle. <3> Here is for you an Impromptu by Voltaire,<4> sur la Beauté du Ciel, dans une Nuit d’été – <5>
Tous ces vastes païs d’azur & de lumiere <6>
Tirés du sein du néant vuide & formés sans matiere <7>
Arrondis sans compas, & tournant sans pivot <8>
ont a peine coûté la depense d’un mot. <9>
I thought this would suit your present astronomical taste. I saw last night at Sir Humphry Davy’s <10> a M. Biot <11> just arrived from France to measure the variations of the Pendulum. Many other Savans were there, as well as Bowles the Poet <12>, who I believe you have seen at Bowood, <13> he lives near there. “Sans Matiere” in Voltaire’s Impromptu must be taken in the sense, I suppose, of without Materials, not without matter.
There is no stand for Mr F’s <14> glasses, which will make them awkward for you to use
don’t you think so?
I send you the 1st Number of the Guardian a new paper edited by Mr Brougham. <15> Nothing shews more strongly the power of Eloquence than Mr Canning’s <16> Speech the other day in his own defence. Numbers that went down to the House of Commons predetermi[ned]<17> to vote against him or to go away before the Division & not vote at all staid & actually voted for him. Tho’ they afterwards when they cooled thought it still a scandalous job. This is something like the extraordinary effects of Grecian oratory, & is seldom produced in Modern times amongst our duller perceptions & slower feelings. Bob Eden <18> goes to Cambridge because his Brothers thought Oxford an Idle place, where they only forgot what they had learnt at Eton Think of Lord Milton <19> voting for Mr Canning!!!! O Eloqüence [sic] first born of Heaven!
London May twenty 1817 Auckland <20> –
Hy Fox Talbot Esqre
Normanton
Stamford –
Notes:
1. Like a good mother.
2. Sir John Leslie (1766–1832), mathematician, natural philosopher and inventor. His new method was probably the result of his long term research on heat. In 1810, he successfully applied the absorbent powers of sulphuric acid to freeze water under the receiver of the air pump.
3. London's Morning Chronicle was published from 1769-1862 and was the first paid platform for the writings of Charles Dickens. Its collected articles by Henry Mayhew formed the basis of his London Labour and the London Poor; a cyclopædia of the condition and earnings of those that will work, those that cannot work, and those that will not work (London: Griffin, Bohn, and Company, 1861-1862).
4. These lines are actually not by Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet, 1694-1778) but rather by Pierre Le Moyne (1602-1671), Oeuvres Poetiques (1671), book 1, letter 11.
5. On the beauty of the Skies on a Summer’s night.
6. All the vast regions of blueness and of light.
7. Drawn from the bosom of the void and formed without materials.
8. Contoured without compass, and turning without pivot.
9. Have scarcely cost the expense of a word.
10. Probably Sir Humphry Davy (1778–1829), chemist.
11. Jean-Baptiste Biot (1774–1862), French scientist.
12. Rev William Lisle Bowles (1762–1850), Wiltshire poet & antiquary.
13. Bowood House, nr Calne, Wiltshire, 5 mi NE of Lacock: seat of the Marquess of Lansdowne.
14. Rear Admiral Charles Feilding (1780–1837), Royal Navy; WHFT’s step-father.
15. Probably Henry Peter Brougham, 1st Baron Brougham and Vaux (1778–1868).
16. George Canning (1770–1827), British statesman known for his liberal policies as foreign secretary (1807–1809, 1822–1827), and as prime minister for four months during 1827.
17. Written off the edge of page.
18. Robert John Eden, 3rd Baron Auckland (1799–1870).
19. Charles William Fitzwilliam, 5th Earl Fitzwilliam of Ireland, and 3rd Earl Fitzwilliam of England (1786–1857).
20. George Eden, 1st Earl of Auckland (1784–1849), Governor General of India.