JDH informs his wife Hyacinth Hooker that he is enclosing another letter for her [letter not present]. He recounts a lunch he had with Balfour & the Balloch family, cousins of the late Thomas Thomson who were acquainted with JDH's niece Wilielma Dawson Hooker. William Henslow Hooker has been at a fire at Strand on the Green. JDH sends his love to Hyacinth's parents [the Symonds] & to 'little lion' [his son Joseph Symonds Hooker].