TALBOT766

Normanton, ¹
May 18^th 1817.

My Dear Mamma,

I have written a long letter to Caroline ² about the stars. - If she succeeded in seeing Mercury ³ on Saturday, her acquaintance with him will be exactly coëval with mine. However he will be visible till the 21^st - I should like very much to have any telescope that is powerful, & the more magnifying power it has, the better. I don't think that which I have will be good enough to shew me the occultation of the star & Libræ on the 20^th of the present month. From Murray's Lodge ⁴ you can see churches innumerable. Why has L^d Caulfield ⁵ left Harrow? ⁶ He will be an agreeable companion for Kit ⁷ - Your [illegible deletion] letters are always sealed with the fragment of a centaur. Why should Bob Eden ⁸ go to Cambridge [illegible deletion] since his brothers were at Oxford? - Why do you prefer Oxford? I have got a stumpy pen, and can no more,

Y^r Aff^te Son
W. H. F. Talbot

The Lady Elis^th Feilding
31 Sackville S^t
London
Stamford 86 ⁹