TALBOT568

Malvern ¹
11^th May

My Dearest

What can be the reason you do not write as often as you did. I miss your Letters very much. Since I wrote last the Horse Chesnuts are come out & the Birch & Lime Trees, as well as Sycomore [sic] but nothing else. I find in the “History & Antiquities of Asia” ² that May Day is kept by the Hindoos, & that they assemble in gardens & visit a Pole which they adorn with garlands. It is odd enough the same custom should prevail in two such distant Nations. There is a fine old Church ³ here dans le genre gothique ⁴, it is the remains of a Monastery. Cet edifice est imposant & très bien conservé. ⁵ I actually walked to the top of the hill last Wednesday, don’t you think that was a great feat for me? I was so tired I have been resting ever since. I forget whether I told you that M^r Feilding ⁶ walked from Chepstow to Ross, ⁷ 29 Miles, by the banks of the Wye & saw Tintern Abbey ⁸ &c &c, a pretty good day’s performance, n’est-ce pas? ⁹ –

Tuesday May 12^th

Your important Letter ¹⁰ is just come, it is a great event you tell me of, & an unfortunate one for you & for L^d Brudenell ¹¹ you have lost a companion that I regret very much, as I think he had been better brought up at home than most boys, & he has lost an excellent Master in D^r Butler. ¹² I suppose Lord Cardigan would have preferred Dr Corey’s¹³ easiness who lets the boys stay away as long as they like, but which will not in the end redound to the honour of Westminster School. I am sorry Lord Cardigan was so much too hasty & I dare say by this time he is sorry himself. Audi alteram partem ¹⁴ is an excellent maxim, I am glad you followed it for otherwise you could not have been just in the opinion you formed of who was right & [who?] ¹⁵ was wrong in this affair. I wish it had been any other boy in the school. Tell me how you like his successor in your room. My head is so full of Lord Brudenell I can think of nothing else. Was he a clever boy? Pray tell me the names of your five chief friends. I long to hear from you again

Believe me aff^ly yours
E T F

Selkirk Villa ¹⁶ was the right direction to Jane ¹⁷

W. H. F. Talbot Esq^r
Rev^d D^r Butler’s
Harrow ¹⁸
Middlesex

[Written in another hand at the back of address panel:]
Malvern May 11^th 1812