Mount Edgcumbe 7^th of July

Dear Papa,

I received your second letter this morning. I should have liked to have seen the Odd fellows with their bright costumes and their flags, but one cannot be everywhere at the same time. I think the heat must be greater at Lacock than it is here; for there is always a nice seabreeze on the heights, and we can do something else than lie down all day. Yesterday at ½ past five we went down the zigzags to draw, and I gathered the same sort that grew at Skelwith bridge, it looks fatter and less delicate. Rosamond sent me the snapdragon; but I could not well judge of its beauty, it was so crushed and flattened when it arrived.

I was glad to hear that my myrtle had the honour to be put on the hall steps, wher <sic> I always thought it would look so pretty.

Tomorrow we are going to Cothele, w’ont that be nice? If it is as hot as today we will set off when the greatest heat of the day is past; then sleep at Cothele and see it comfortably next morning, and come back again in the cool of the evening.

Your affectionnate <sic> daughter

Matilda

I wrote this before diner, afterwards it grew hotter and hotter and we have just had a violent thunderstorm and torrents of rain with hail I am now exedingly <sic> hot though I have done nothing but sit still all the morning. This storm may spoil our excursion perhaps.