Greta Bank. <1>
Thursday, May 11th
My dear Papa,
There is an odd plant growing in one of the zigzags, something like a large cornflower or blue thistle with thick undivided leaves. Perhaps it has strayed out of the garden, for we do not remember having ever seen it before.
I have been drying some purple and yellow avens and some of the pretty little Lysimachia Nimorum already in flower. The golden saxifrage is over and the beautiful woodsorrel also.
Yesterday was very favourable weather for the plants; a great deal of sunshine, interrupted now and then by warm summer showers. Today it is duller and colder, and the clouds hide the mountain tops. Everything is so green now, you will find a great change in the depth of foliage on the trees; however all the oaks are not yet in leaf.
Please to thank Ela <2> for her letter of yesterday. I am very sorry she was obliged to go to the dentist’s instead of seeing any of the curious things of which there are so many in London.
We do not go out much, or make long expeditions, for we are so busy with our piano lessons which are to last only a month, so we make the most of the time and study a great deal. –
Goodbye, dear Papa, I do not think I have any thing more to say,
Your affectionate daughter
Rosamond.
Papa.
Notes:
1. Greta Bank, Cumberland, near Keswick.
2. Ela Theresa Talbot (1835–1893), WHFT’s 1st daughter.