Edition of "To Harry at Eton"
To Harry[1]at Eton[2]in answer to a Letter of his wrote in verse petitioning to come Home on his Papas and Mamas Wedding Day the 27th of Oct 1770
[f. 48]
Your Letter has my Dearest Boy[3]
Thrilled your papa & I[4]me with joy
So that in short we have decreed
There shall be done a joyfull deed
As such to me I’m sure ‘twill prove
And ekeºto you if true your Love eke=also(OED)
It is the sending Thursday next
To fetch you Home but we’re perplext
Whether to send your fav’rite Brown[5]
Or Yorie[6]steady so well known
For we are told the Lady New
Caprices[7]has and those not few
And therefore pleased I hope you’ll be
Which ever of the two you see
We also mean some way to send
For Robinson to whom commend
[f.49]
Papa and self & tell him too
We hope that he will come with you
For we have wrote for parents leave
And if that Letter we receive
Be what we hope will come to hand
Two horses at my Dames shall stand
By nine or sooner if you’ve done
Your task so that with ease by one
You’ll meet us all at Sunning Hill[8]
Where we shall Dine and stay untill
We bring ye in the evening Home
To your own happy chearfull Dome
Where all will strive to shewºtheir Love shew=display(OED)
But none I trust will better prove
Than me how strong & sweet the Bond
That binds you to your mother fond
[1]Harry Valentine Henry Wilmot (b. 1757 d. 1819), son of Sarah and Henry Wilmot. At the time this poem was written, Henry would have been about 13 years old. See also note 3, below.
[2]Eton English independent boarding school for boys in Eton, Berkshire (est. 1440).[3]Dearest Boy Harry m[arried] Barbarina dau[ghter] of Admiral Sir Chaloner Ogle, Bart. afterwards wife of the 20th Baron Dacre. [Note in later hand]
[4]I Crossed out in manuscript and corrected above with “me,” seemingly in a later hand.
[5]Fav’rite Brown favourite Brown was a new mare lately given him by his m uncle [note in original]. The “m” here possibly refers to his maternal uncle, Valentine Morris.
[6]Yorie Yoric steady was his Old Horse [note in original].
[7]Caprices A sudden change or turn of the mind without motive (OED)
[8]Sunning Hill A village in the English county of Berkshire.
[9]SW SW These are the two versions of Sarah Wilmot’s signature that appear throughout the notebook. See Fig. 4 in Sarah Wilmot exhibit, Notebook and Signatures.