His laborious Monday: collected plants for his lecture, accompanied by Mrs Edward Forster; gave his lecture; attended a fraught Linnean Society audit and Council due to the quarrels with [Joseph] Sabine, but conciliated after [Alexander] Macleay and himself lectured [David] Don [(1799-1841), botanist]. Anniversary meeting and dinner well attended, though Sabine did not attend; conflicts between [James] Bicheno and [John] Lindley [(1799-1865), botanist]. Is to attend, with Forster, the annual meeting of Chimney Sweepers, who want to outlaw use of children in the profession. Next staying at Miss Lloyd's lodgings at Chapel Place. Sitting for [Francis Leggatt] Chantrey [(1781-1841), sculptor] on return from Bristol. His dentist is Mr Cartwright. Professor [Thomas] Martyn has mouth cancer. Edward Taylors moving to London.

Plants for lectures supplied by [Edward] Forster's garden and Loddige's [nursery]. Finished on Thursday to a "thunder of applause"; paid 100 guineas. Visited Horticultural Society gardens and spent pleasant time with [John] Lindley [(1799-1865), botanist], showing that their quarrel is "more than made up". Often breakfasts at the Menzies. [Samuel] Goodenough approves of next fasciculus of "Flora Graeca". Disappointed by Bullock's Mexican curiosities. Met Sir Astley Cooper at Saville Onley's, he continually reads his "Introduction to Botany". A party at the Blackwells; George Blackwell leaving the country for 2 years. His health generally better but his old complaint increased; Dr Davy prescribes Ipecacuanla with laudanum. Attempted and failed to get [Aylmer Bourke] Lambert to be accommodating regarding Linnean Society chair.

His travel arrangements for Bristol. Account of remainder of his time in London, including visits to Paddington to see [Thomas William] Coke and family; a ball at Mrs Bennett's, sister of [Aylmer Bourke] Lambert, where he met Sir Stamford Raffles [(1781-1826), founder of Singapore], they are now "sworn friends"; attended the King's [George IV (1762-1830)] drawing room; visited Lady Hervey and Miss Caton, Mrs Patterson unwell. Dr [Martin] Davy extravagantly applauded "English Flora".

A meeting with [Thomas] Platt [(d 1842), one of John Sibthorp's executors, supervised the publication of "Flora Graeca"], who is annoyed at the British Museum having claimed a copy of "Flora Graeca" and sued the bookseller according to the act which requires copies to be deposited with public bodies. All say he looks "remarkably well", though thinner; his night perspiration has returned. Lambert insists that they stay at Boyton, [Wiltshire], on return from Bristol as he can get them a sight of Fonthill [Abbey, Wiltshire, built by William Beckford (1760-1844), novelist]. Lady de Clifford [Sophia Southwell] said to be "breaking fast".

Invites Smith to dinner. Recalls visiting Smith at Norwich with her cousins, the Gurneys of Earlham, when she was still Miss Galton [married 1806].

Dined at [Aylmer Bourke] Lambert's with Captain [Phillip Barker] King [(1791-1856], the great New Holland navigator, how is about to publish his voyage, and has named in honour of him a group of islands on the southern coast of New Holland.

[Letter incomplete: fragment only]

Efforts to relocate Smith's missing trunk, hopes he has received it by now. Sorry to hear that Smith suffered a cold so bad on his way to Bristol that he had to be bled; hopes he will recover with use of James' Powders and usual precautions.

Invites Smith and his party to Ham Green, following the completion of his lectures [at the Bristol Institution].

Invites Smith to visit Boyton, Captain King, [Robert] Brown, and the two Dons are also to visit. Has appointment for assistant to Dr [Nathaniel] Wallich, a salary of £530 per annum. Offers to show Miss [Etheldred] Benett's [(1775-1845), fossil collector and geologist, Lambert's sister was married to her brother John] collection of fossils, the most scientfically arranged in the country, to Mr Reeve. Has acquired [James] Bruce's [(1730-1794) Scottish traveller] collection of 300 natural history drawings from Abyssinia direct from Kinnaird, Scotland, describes dealings with the family. In postscript tells Smith he has been raising plants from Egypt. Sir Richard Hoare has been staying. Believes that the whole of Regent's Park is to be turned into a "national botanical garden", has been asked to take an active part in it.

He has been staying in Devon with his daughter. Glad to hear Smith's health better. Invites the Smiths to stay with them in Walthamstow, [Essex]. Account of his time in Devon, found 'Scirpus holoschoenus' and 'Teucrium scordium'. His health bad again. Thanks for Smith's "new edition".

Describes his travels since leaving Norwich on 30 April: stayed with Thomas Forster at Walthamstow and Edward Forster at Hale End, [both in Essex]; gave course of 10 lectures at the London Institution; saw the Coke family and Dr [Martin] Davy of Caius College, [Cambridge]; arrived in Bristol on 12 June but inflammation in his lungs recurred after his first three lectures, following treatment with James's powder, bleeding, and starvation resumed and completed lectures to a "brilliant & numerous" audience; staying in a cottage till end of September to regain his health. Finished third volume of his "[English] Flora". Heat in London prevented him from seeing Roscoe's son, Thomas, and the only exhibition or sight he saw was the King in the drawing room.

Suffering from giddiness brought on by the excessive heat of their "uncommon summer"; initially treated it as proceeding from gout but found his stomach was at fault, took purgatives to counteract the threat of constipation but has observed scybala; blames his heavy work load. The heat's effect on the garden: flowers all destroyed, apricots and peaches have not swelled nor ripened, peas and beans were ready all at once and quickly too old for the table, and oats and barley cramped by the heat, though the corn is promising. The poor manufacturing people do not have work above three days a week.

Addresses Smith as "one of the most successful and scientific cultivators of Natural History of which England can boast", informing him that a natural history museum funded by the government has been established here, by order of Lord Charles Somerset [(1767-1831), colonial administrator], and of which he has been appointed a superintendent. Offers to send Smith and Linnean Society any botanical, zoological, or mineralogical specimens required. Concedes that whilst considerable attention has been paid to this part of the world's botany a great deal remains to be done, alluding to new discoveries such as 'Crapula', 'Mesembryanthemum', 'Aloe', and 'Colyledon'. An application has been made to attach a botanic garden to the museum.

Heard that Smith's bad health forced him to abandon his Bristol lectures. Lady Cullum alarmingly ill with spasms of the thorax and abdomen: camphor, opium, and [ether] have gave little relief but small doses of calomel and castor oil helped, and she is now convalescing though her appetite is suppressed by an intermittent fever. On journey to Cheltenham could only briefly stop at Oxford to use stables and coach house of Dr [Martin] Routh [(1755-1854)], Master of Magdalen College, as it was race week.

Transcribes brief extract of letter from General [Thomas] Hardwicke on improvement of his health. Implores Smith not to overwork himself on "English Flora" and to forget "every thing unpleasant that passed at Cambridge" [Smith's campaign for botany professorship]. His son at Aix-la-Chapelle, [Germany], or Brussels, [Netherlands], his daughter-in-law's poor health the same despite trying so many celebrated baths in Europe.

Thanks for Smith's letter of 18 August and medical advice regarding his giddiness and constipation with scybala. Cumberland weather still unaccountably hot; recalls that at this time of his first year in Cumberland there was still snow on the hills and thick ice but this year the harvest is almost complete. Not surprised Smith has found 'Senecio lividus'; recalls collecting seed of it from Oxford walls and has grown it on the walls at Rose Castle along with 'Antirrhinum cymbalaria', 'Hieracium morurm', 'Tussilago odorata', and 'Asarum europaeum'.

Unsure whether the weavers want of work is due to the manufacturers not having sufficient orders or that machinery has been brought into greater use. No indication of political contest heard yet from the new Lord Thanet [Charles Tufton, 10th Earl of Thanet (1770-1832)], who is not so "red-hot" as his late brother [Sackville Tufton, 9th Earl of Thanet (1769-1825)]. Mrs Goodenough persistent complaints compounded by her "unconquerable dislike to taking remedies & using applications".

Introduces [William Henry Fox] Talbot of Lacock Abbey, [Wiltshire], nephew of [Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice, 3rd] Marquess of Lansdowne [(1780-1863)]. Asks Smith's progress on third volume of the "Flora". Mentions again his acquisition of natural history drawings of [James] Bruce [(1730-1794) Scottish traveller], which "prove him to be a very different person than the world has thought him".

[Smith has annotated] "expect to reach Boyton Oct. 5 in the even.".

Apologises for delay in responding to Smith; he has been in a state of "unaccountable indolence & debility" with his only exertion being the publication of his "Monandrian Plants"; retierates principal point of the work, being to ascertain precise limits of genera 'Maranta', 'Phrynium', and 'Thalia', and settling points on 'Castus'. Received letter from Thomas William Coke; was anxious to hear of Coke's feverish attack. Hopes to meet Smith again soon.

Glad to hear of Lady Cullum's recovering health; his own is improving and now only suffers rheumatism in his knees when rain is approaching. Found 'Senecio lividus', 'Rubus glandulosus', and 'Centaurea jacea' very distinct from 'nigra', in woods of Blaise Castle, [Henbury]. Pities Cullum for being in Oxford during race week, "races, fairs & elections are the pests of sober travellers". Index to third volume of "English Flora" delayed by illness but printing now almost complete. His travel plans: intends to visit [Aylmer Bourke] Lambert at Boyton, [Wiltshire]; Salisbury, [Wiltshire]; Winchester, [Hampshire]; his Kindersley cousins at Sunning Hill, [Berkshire]; [Thomas Furly] Forster at Hoe Street, Walthamstow, [Essex]; and attend meetings of Horticultural and Linnean Societies on 1 November. Considers it "an honour to have been thought of & invited by so large a portion of the enlightened & learned part of the University" [in reference to his failed campaign to become Cambridge botany professor]._x000D_

[Letter incomplete: two-thirds of second folio cropped, missing text presumed destroyed]

Lady Cullum's fever now in her eyes and ears. Visited [Edward] Rudge's new house in Evesham, [Worcestershire]. His son back in England but daughter-in-law is to winter in Paris as she is too ill to travel. Met at Kimbolton, [Cambridgeshire], the late Professor [Thomas] Martyn's son, [John King Martyn], who preaches there every Sunday to a sect of Moravians and is soon to marry one of them as his fourth wife, and recounts connection between the Martyns and the Mudges who succeeded as rectors of Pertenhall, [Bedfordshire].

Reports that many members of Cambridge are dissatisfied by the election of [John Stevens] Henslow [(1796-1861)] to the Botanical Professorship. Invites Smith to Bury.

Thanks for Smith's letter and medical advice for himself and Mrs Goodenough; she has tried the soft soap for her piles but has suffered so long doubts anything will clear them. Harvest gathered and in very good condition. Electioneering has begun following reports that Parliament is dissolved and Mr Brougham paying up bills for the last election. 'Cacalia suaveolens' grown from mysterious roots in a pot. Dean of Carlisle, [Robert] Hodgson, is a great naturalist but has no garden to cultivate and has little time for exploring. They are experiencing some showers but no sustained rain, hopes this continues for the start of the races on 27 September.

Anxiously awaiting another parcel of plates of "Flora Graeca" from Sowerby. Their planned route from Bristol to London, including a visit to [Aylmer Bourke] Lambert at Boyton, [Wiltshire], expects to be in London by 15 October. Suffering from rheumatism in his legs.