From Ellen Hutchins to Dawson Turner   10 Apr 1813

My dear Sir

I just begin to feel something like the return of health. I have been a little better for a few days passed & have taken short walks animated principally by the hope of finding something interesting to send you. I was not able to go far or make much exertion though I am considerably better. My cough has almost entirely left me but constant headache deprives me of the pleasure of reading, writing or drawing & my side is still so painful that I would put a blister to it again but that I cannot spare time to indulge myself. My mother is in a very melancholy state & requires constant attendance. She cannot bear anyone else to come near her or talk to her so that I have now very little leisure for any of my own gratifications. The care of her & of the house & a great variety of country affairs occupies me almost incessantly. I have but too well accounted for my being so very bad a correspondent of late. I am always hoping to become better & yet I know not with what reasonable ground for I cannot see any prospect of being less hurried. One reflection is a great pleasure to me that you always believe me most grateful for your kindness & friendship & that I am ever eager to show my gratitude in any way that I can possibly do so. My dear Sir my life has been & is likely to be a very uneasy & troubled state. I do not I will not suffer myself to repine. I only pray for patience & fortitude to support every suffering to which I am subject. I have troubled you too much with melancholy details. Let me turn to more pleasing subjects, let me tell you how when I sat to rest my weary frame on a bank of moss I started up with pleasure at sight of J viticulosa full of fructification & said to myself how glad Mr. T will be. I never felt more pleased than at finding it, so very interesting too & connecting it so very nearly with J trichomanis, the calyx is immersed in the earth in the same way as in that species. It is with us a very common plant. J Sphagni I found perfect this morning & send you some. I found J. Lyelli today very near me and full of calyces. I expect to get it in perfection plentifully, in about a fortnight. It is very common on many of our bogs. J laxifolia I will send in fructification. I am trying to get all I can & shall perhaps soon have some more for you, but I do not depend on myself nor do I wish that my friend should hope for much from me. I have large specimens of all those to send in my long promised parcel which shall be as soon as I am able to make it up. I find the lichen you sent as Endocarpon laetevirens in fructification is very common here on trees & often in fructification. I am sorry to tell you that I have not got Mr Hooker’s xxx numbers, Edwards at Cork says they have not been sent him. I have none later than the 6th. If I had been able to enjoy anything I should have fretted at not having them as you sent them, but I now fear you may have trouble about them as they have been neglected probably by the correspondence of Edwards. Pray tell me particularly how Mrs Turner is. I hope she will have better health than usual this time and that she will have the happiness of presenting you with a nice little boy. How is my little child, give her my love. Tell me how she gets on and what she says. I fear to indulge myself with the hope of seeing you in Ireland next summer. Will Sir T Gage follow your advice and publish the Baeomycides. I once intended to draw them all for you, we have many in this country. I very lately got beautiful specimens of B elongatus which is rare with us. I enclose one which is I think a very good species, pray tell me if you think so. Has Mr Hooker yet returned from Devonshire? & has he found new Jungermanniae there? Many of the flowering plants of that part of England grow here. I find that you Funaria Templetonii is very common here, I have always mistaken it for Gymnostomum fasciculare. Have you observed that the fruit of Jung pinguis takes a whole year to grow & ripen, the calyx is fully formed the year before the capsule appears. I have been so often interrupted that I hardly know what I have written. One thing I know well that I have not been able to answer or make return for the many kind letters I have had from you. You can hardly imagine how much pleasure you have given me & how often your kindness has revived me. Again let me beg to know how Mrs Turner is & believe me ever yours

E H

Ballylickey

10th April 1813

How I regret the loss of Mr Gurney's privilege. Pray did you get through him a parcel for Mr Hooker? I am ashamed to trouble your excellent Bishop too often. It is not long since I sent some things through him, I now forget what they were, I am so bewildered.