Comments on how difficult he finds it "to be allowed to mind [his] own business", but concedes difficulty as he works "so much for the publick". Approves of Sowerby's "Life" of his father [James Sowerby], though doubts whether it is proper for the public. He is ill with catarrh, pulmonary inflammation, and weak stomach. Can have no communication with Mr G Leathes and has nothing to say on his plant. Considers the call for Sowerby's accounts respecting "Flora Graeca" a most "impertinent inquistion", "what a curse is law in this country".