Mr. and Mrs. H——­, with whom papa is slightly acquainted, have called upon us, and shown us many kind attentions.  They are West India people, not very polished, but certainly very good-natured.  We hear that the place is extremely full and gay; but this is, of course, only an on dit to us at present.  I have been riding a donkey two or three times, and enjoy very much going to the edge of the sea.  The air has made me sleep more soundly than I have done for some time, and I dare say it will do me a great deal of good in every way.

You may suppose what a southern climate this is, when I tell you that myrtles and verbena, three or four feet high, and hydrangeas are in flower in the gardens—­even in ours, which is about a hundred and fifty yards from the sea.  I have written to the end of my paper.  Give our kindest regards to Mr. Martin, and ever believe me,

Your affectionate and grateful
E.B.B.

[Footnote 11:  The Martins’ home near Malvern, about a mile from Hope End.]

[Footnote 12:  Her brothers Edward and Septimus.]

To Mrs. Martin [Sidmouth:] Wednesday, September 27, 1832 [postmark].

How very kind of you, dearest Mrs. Martin, to write to me so much at length and at such a time.  Indeed, it was exactly the time when, if we were where we have been, we should have wished you to walk over the hill and talk to us; and although, after all that the most zealous friends of letter writing can say for it, it is not such a happy thing as talking with those you care for, yet it is the next happiest thing.  I am sure I thought so when I read your letter ...

And now I must tell you about ourselves.  Papa and Bro and Sette have made us so much happier by coming, and we have the comfort of seeing dear papa in good spirits, and not only satisfied but pleased with this place.  It is scarcely possible, at least it seems so to me, to do otherwise than admire the beauty of the country.  It is the very land of green lanes and pretty thatched cottages.  I don’t mean the kind of cottages which are generally thatched, with pigstyes and cabbages and dirty children, but thatched cottages with verandas and shrubberies, and sounds from the harp or piano coming through the windows.  When you stand upon any of the hills which stand round Sidmouth, the whole valley seems to be thickly wooded down to the very verge of the sea, and these pretty villas to be springing from the ground almost as thickly and quite as naturally as the trees themselves.  There are certainly many more houses out of the town than in it, and they all stand apart, yet near, hiding in their own shrubberies, or behind the green rows of elms which wall in the secluded lanes on either side.  Such a number of green lanes I never saw; some of them quite black with foliage, where it is twilight in the middle of the day, and others letting in beautiful glimpses of the spreading heathy hills or of the sunny sea.