[fragment? it was unusual for Charles Henry not to sign his letters]
Harrow 1
Thursday even.
My dear Papa
As I have got a very tolerable allowance of spare time to night, I thought I would write you a line or two Just to explain to you about our form. Our Master by rights is Mr Benzamin Drury, 2 vulgarly called Ben Drury, and as I remember your telling me how lazy Harrow Harry Drury was I dont wonder at his sons being lazy also. Last quarter he got a person of the name of Millar who had anciently been a monitor here to take his form. But Mr Millar made a mess of it & it is now a most unruly form. Last quarter as the master of the fourth shell was obliged to absent himself, Mr Brown took the fourth shell, & this quarter he takes our form, the 2nd fifth. He seems to make a very good sort of a master, Of course he is not down on the bill book – but I suspect, although I havent much ground that Mr Brown will continue to take the 2nd fifth as a substitute for Mr Drury who will pay him & remain nominal master. All our exercises & Maps are taken to Mr Drury to be looked over.
We do Latin We have as yet done 6 stanzas of original alcaics or the return of the Resolute & I got 16 for them out of 24. My marks were thus 20/24 − 4 = 16/24. The Merit marks of the verses were 20/24 but they take of 2 for each false quantity & I had 2 which made − 4. so that in the end I had 16.
We have also had some 24 Hexameters to make on from one of Gays poems but I have not got my marks for them yet. We are doing in School Horace Virgil Euripides Greek history & grammar & in Geography we have just done China. I have got a nice new Atleas. The Harrow Modern atlas, the ancient one is not yet finished.
For private reading we continue to do Euripides Ion. 3 In french some fables de la Fontaine: La cigale et le fourmi et and Le corbeau et le renard. To night as I said before I have had a good deal spare time & have had 3 games of Chess with Steel 4 of which I lost the 1st gained the 2 next and the 4th is undecided. The Chessmen are just the sought of thing.
Poor Eyre 5 didn’t get his remove only Stowe & Gillespie 6 did. I wish the weather would get warmer for last Tuesday was a dreadful day for football.
Please cite as “TALBOT7513,” in Ɛpsilon: accessed on