TALBOT681

Castleford, ¹
Jan ^ry 27:^th 1816.

My Dear Mamma,

We spent a very pleasant day at Sprotborough: ² Major General the Honourable Sir Edward Stopford, Knight Commander of the Most Honourable Military Order of the Bath, ³ was there: & Doctor Chorley dined - It is about 20 miles from hence - I had not seen Joe Copley since we were at Brighton in 1811.⁴ I think he is one of the nicest little boys I ever saw - Madame, & her Parrot are very well - I begin to think that my poney is perfect "in the twelve moralle vertues" as Spenser hath it. We have now finished our Christmas visits, which I am not sorry for, and Stewart & Nuttall ⁵ will be returning very soon, which I am rather sorry for. M^r Feilding ⁶ sent me L^d Erskine's ⁷ Epigram. I think it is good, but it is an old joke, & has been in the newspapers some time. You did not send Goldoni; ⁸ I don't want him yet - Ne quid Nimis - ⁹ I find the Miss Copley's ¹⁰understand Italian & Spanish perfectly - Pray set about teaching Caroline, Sanscrit. ¹¹ I am glad to hear she has been happy on her birthday, I remember perfectly my 8^th Birthday, at Weymouth, I had 8 Dishes, & was very happy: Tomorrow fortnight I ought to dine on 16.. You answered my letter with such amazing punctuality, replied to all questions in it with such extraordinary accuracy, & in fine couched the superscription in terms at once so facetious, & so classical that were I to describe my feelings on the occasion I should say, "Obstupeci, et vox faucibus haesit!!!" ¹² - As for my new cousin's names, Henry, I expected: -- & Charlotte, I expected, tho' not from Pss. Charlotte. ¹³ - and Harry, I expect "Itane cerses?" "Wot ye not so" ¹⁴ - I shall like very much to have the Edinburgh Review, ¹⁵ but do not wish for the Examiner ¹⁶ any more. - Pray tell me how to pronounce "vizj" in Italian, for I am at a loss; unless it be like "vizzi" - and pray construe for me this passage - "Mi sono avvezzo a difendermi da rei vizj" ¹⁷ - What is rei, ¹⁸ I can't find it out - And what is, "sol contento". ¹⁹ is "sol" put for "suole" from "solere" he used to be content? - I have an Ecritoire, ²⁰ but it is full, and consequently, if any credit is due to Euclid, ²¹ it is not an easy matter to put anything else in. - I take it, that letters & account books, & pocketbooks, & writing paper, & pens, & sealing wax, are all solids, to wit, they have length, breadth, & thickness. Have they not? -

As for my room, servants have eyes, & tables no drawers - I know the anagram you sent me, perfectly - Do you know that famous one on Pilate's ²²question to Christ - "Quid est veritas". ²³ answered anagrammatically - "Est vir qui adest ²⁴" - The justest answer that could possibly be given.

I remain, ^r Aff^te Son
W. H. F. Talbot

In your next parcel pray send me a short-sighted glass, N^o 5. I believe: dependent, or rather pensile, hangeable round the neck by a ribbon: For my present one is Execrable

The Lady Elisabeth Feilding
31 Sackville S^t
London
Ferrybridge 174 ²⁵