Harrow <1>
March 22. 1814
My dear Mamma,
Spring has begun here now, for the Thermometer is at 52. There are Crocus’s in blow in Dr B’s. <2> Garden – I have agreed to go home with another boy on Tuesday the 29th: This day Week – I believe I shall not be in town before six. You must not be alarmed if I do not come till Wednesday morning – This is a busy time for the Shell and Fourth Form, who are now in the bustle of their Trial. Their Success will be decided next Saturday. The Ice is not gone from the Ponds entirely, nor the Snow from the woods, though the thaw has been the most rapid I ever saw. The Honeysuckles are coming out in leaf, but scarcely anything else. Tell Mr F.<3> I should be much obliged to him to send me a bank note. I do not think I shall have occasion to write again before the Holydays when we shall exchange reciprocally mutual communications, by verbal & oral word of mouth.
Your Affte. Son
WHF Talbot.
Lady E. Feilding
31 Sackville Street
London
Notes:
1. Harrow School: WHFT attended from 1811–1815 and his son Charles from 1855-1859.
2. Rev George Butler (1774–1853), Headmaster at Harrow.
3. Rear Admiral Charles Feilding (1780–1837), Royal Navy; WHFT’s step-father.