| Description | William sends his love on launching again for a third term of active life in the East. They have no news from India and the voyage has been smooth so far. He gives an account of one of the children, and their maid 'much beset...by admirers'. He had hoped for a full day at Suez to inspect the Canal, but arrangement of the trains was inconvenient. William gives an account of their 'quiet and agreeable' travelling companion Mrs Basil Hall [Grace, the wife of Captain Basil Simouth de Ros Hall], with whom Emma visited the widow of the late Pasha. He asks his mother to tell his father that they passed close enough to Etna to see it lightly smoking, and Stromboli, which is cultivated almost to the top. He concludes with a trick for Alex [Alexander Stewart Herschel] on balancing a penny on the edge of a wine glass, with a small sketch. |