Dear Sir

Northcourt. I. W. September 29. 1795

With a Franker at my elbow, and with a mind possess’d of your kind Attentions to me, it would be strange indeed, if I did not thank you as well as I am able, for your last two letters, and their contents; – with the specimens of Engravings I am delighted, and I should have known the Extracts from some treatise on Husbandry, were of your Pen, had I found them in any part of the Globe. The Book itself I hope and trust will appear soon.¹ We very much rejoice to hear you are happily restor’d from any bad Effects which we had apprehended from such a fall as yours. I must confess that White le Pere, never appear’d in my eyes as a liberal minded man, but the young man has the best character with those that know him best, the surest sign of merit. circumstanc’d as you now are with him, I am not so wrong headed, as to expect a copy of what relates to our Island, but, unlike the Fox in the fable, I think the Grapes the sweeter, for being out of my reach. You seem to me a very happy old cock with all your chickens playing round you; long, very long, may you enjoy one another. Stet fortuna domus.² – I shall have a good account of your place from Chiswell, and if He liked it, it must be desirable indeed. We breathe nothing here but War, every town fill’d with Soldiers, and all the Sea cover’d with transports, and Ships of War. there is an encampment near Southampton consisting of 20,000 troops, most of whom are destin’d to yellow fevers in the West Indies, and expected to Sail in three days. the Commerce de Marseilles³ is fitted out as a Storeship to attend this Expedition, and with only 400 men, a circumstance which makes the knowing ones unwilling to think such a vast vessel secure. The King, the Prince of Wales, and the Duke of York have been to review their Army, and Lord Spencer is now at Portsmouth, attending the equipment of the Fleet. We have had, in common with all England a most Plentiful harvest, notwithstanding which, grain of every sort, more especially horse provander keeps its last summers price in our Island. Hay is at £7. 12. 0 a load. Straw at £2 .6. 0.. Oats £1: 17. 0 a Quarter, I speak of Prime sorts of each. My youngest daughter is quite otherwise than well; her usual spasmodic complaints having return’d with encreased violence. Quant à moi,⁴ I am patch’d up for the present, and may continue so, till the cold weather comes. for these last ten weeks we have hardly seen a cloud.

Our best of wishes attend you all at Downing, and
I am, Dear Sir, yours with sincerity, & truth

Rich^d: Bull

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Editorial notes

1. This may refer to the lengthy section on husbandry included as the closing section of the 'History of Whiteford Parish' in HPWaH, pp. 157–71.
2. 'Let the fortune of the house stand'.
3. A French ship captured at the Siege of Toulon and added to the Royal Navy on 29 August 1793. See here [external link] [accessed 8 January 2019]; and see the report in the Hereford Journal, 14 October 1795: 'His Majesty's ships Commerce de Marseilles, with 1000 troops on board, besides 500 seamen, and a great quantity of war-like stores and baggage, is sailed with the Alcmene frigate, and several transports for the West Indies'.
4. 'As for me'.