[crest]
Dummer House
Basingstoke
May 13.
Dear Sir,
I think you will be glad to hear that Charles continues very well and has, I hope, almost entirely lost his troublesome deafness, and his throat is decidedly better - He has been going on very well in all his lessons, and I have transferred himself [sic] and Dowdeswell to another class, and they are now beginning the First Book of Homer; and 2nd Æneid - he also gets on very fairly with verses, and is beginning Arnold's Latin Prose, a book they greatly employ at Eton, and in many respects it is a capital Exercise Book, but it requires much attention to various rules<1>
-I hope that he thanked you for the Plants, which arrived quite safely, and he has planted them in his garden, but the weather has been so cold and dry that every-thing is miserably backward. I hope, if the weather is propitious, to take some of my flower-loving boys to High-Clere when the Azaleas are in flower -
Mrs Williams desires to join in kind Compts to Mrs Talbot, and
I beg to remain Yours very Truly
James A Williams -
Notes:
1. WHFT's university friend, Thomas Kerchever Arnold, was the author of numerous standard works on Latin, including his two volume A Practical Introduction to Latin Prose Composition, published between 1844 and 1850.