Laycock Abbey
28 February
My Dear Henry
Your letter 1 is very interesting I am sorry I have nothing to entertain you with in return but vegetable life. It is most vexatious that all that good earth you had put round the new trees, has been completely washed away & is gone to improve the alluvial vallies of Bath. They were employed yesterday in carrying more rich soil from the Kitchen garden, but as it is to day again a regular averse & the river rising rapidly this will probably follow the fate of its predecessor. After all it is a work of Superor agentis, because the banks of the river are in themselves the richest soil possible, and the only consolation for the frequent floods is the incomparable excellence of the mud they leave behind. The old large Aracia that has been dead these two years (Ivy was the assassin) was blown down exactly across the road, & fell upon that large Portugal Laurel, which is a good deal endommagé. 2 The Mass of Ivy over Horatia’s 3 window was loosened by these storms & then its own weight brought it down. With this bulletin of the Killed & wounded I must not omit the Gardener’s 4 wife was very nearly burnt to death the day before yesterday, by her cap catching fire. She is a shocking spectacle, I was horrified When I went to see her. I shall have a great opinion of Mr Spencer 5 s’il soit la tirer d’affaire 6 I have performed my promise to you in calling on Mrs Mitchell & Mrs Ashe, and found them both at home Which I am rather glad of, if they are ever to dine here, for then the acquaintance will not be to make.
affy Yr
EF
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