Congratulates Smith on his knighthood. Asks whether Smith has published his last number of "English Botany" and ifthe complete index is ready. Asks if [Dawson] Turner has nearly completed his history of 'Fucus'. Received report from his son in Paris, Edmund, on coarsening of French manners and their inferiority to the British in mechanics, for example, they are building a steam engine but no one knows how it works. Perplexed by Abbé Montesquieu's assertion in his speech that "the rigid laws of England would no be borne in France". Heard that Smith saw the fireworks in the Parks from [Alexander] Macleay's house.