152 ROBERT POCOCK. 



bury in a boat (lately there established by Mrs. Smith) 

 in search of dwarf elder, said to have been seen in 

 the chalk pits, but found it the common elder. Between 

 the coal wharf and church saw abundance of Typha 

 latifolia, or reed mace, the heads of which are worth 

 gathering for beds, &c. So is the down of corn thistles, 

 and down of plowman's spikenard, which grows in 

 abundance in the chalk pits here. 



" Tuesday, October ~\.st. At home. My left knee 

 seems not well, as if swelled ; but I know not what 

 has made it. It rather affects my walking. Kead letters . 

 from Mr. Walcot and Frances Pocock. 



(( Wednesday, 2nd. Wrote letter to John Walcot, 

 Esq., Highnam Court, near Gloucester, saying I could 

 supply him with the set of bound Botany for 10Z., 

 or for 5Z. he should have a set of my duplicates; 

 but for particular plants from sixpence upwards. I 

 have found the Mr. Walcots very civil gentlemen, 

 except a younger son who went to the East Indies. 



" This afternoon Charles Pocock went out in a ship 

 or brig to Smyrna, in the Sultan, Captain Christopher 

 Yeoman. Had a new pair of shoes of Mr. Worsly, 

 which did not fit me, being too little. 



" Thursday, 3rd. The stuffed 'lump fish' becomes 

 moist. This I have observed before, and suppose it 

 annually is the case. It is worth remarking again. 

 When I was at Dartford last week a poor woman, 

 Mrs. Bax's daughter (the simpler), told me she had 

 been bitten by a mad dog, and that day found herself 

 very unwell, and had been persuaded to try the Birling 

 medicine as an antidote ! She said she would rather 

 die than be dipped in the salt water ! I packed 

 up a parcel for Frances Pocock of writing paper 



