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 LETTER THREE.

December 7th, 1838.

When we received your kind parcel, I had just finished a long letter to you, from which you will learn we have got on rather better since my last. I was quite overpowered with the sense of your kindness towards us when I saw the four half-crowns, which came as seasonably as unexpectedly, for we had only fourpence left when we received them. Money does not go very far here, everything almost that we have to buy being dearer than it was in Birmingham. Coal, for instance, is 1s. 6d. cwt., mutton 10d. a pound, potatoes 1s. a pound, and everything is of an inferior quality. We had one piece of bacon since we have been here, and it tasted like soap and fish mixed. The water comes out of the Thames, which all the filth of the town is emptied 27