To Bracknell at Easter, in Miss Handley's house. Took the horses; went to meet of Queen's Hounds; stayed there till April 19th. _To Mr. W. Longman_ Old Bracknell House, April 13th. My dear William,--I am glad you have been to see my scrap of land. I have taken a great fancy to the spot, and should be very well contented to end my days there, gazing on that magnificent view of the coast and the sea. At present I am spending this vacation in Berkshire, and only suffering from the excessive cold. I am reading with the greatest interest Baron Huebner's 'Promenade autour du Monde,' which was reviewed in the 'Times' two or three days ago. It is a work of extraordinary merit and importance. I shall review it in the next 'Edinburgh,' and I strongly recommend you to publish a translation of it, if you can. I have seldom read so wonderful a book. Ever yours faithfully, HENRY REEVE. The Journal goes on to speak of perhaps the most remarkable 'centenarian' of the nineteenth century:-- _May 23rd_.--Dined at Lord Stanhope's with the Antiquaries. Dean Stanley proposed Lady Smith's health. She was just 100. Pleasance Reeve, Lady Smith, widow of Sir James Smith, the botanist and founder of the Linnaean Society, was born on May 11, 1773, and christened on the following day at Lowestoft, where her baptismal register still exists. On May 13, 1873, having just completed her hundredth year, she caused a dinner to be given to the hundred oldest persons in Lowestoft, whose joint ages averaged seventy-seven years, and public rejoicings were held in the town. On May 24th I went down with my daughter to see her, and spent the best part of three days with her. Married in 1795 to Dr. Smith, afterwards Sir James, she had been the intimate friend, in Norwich, of my grandfather and grandmother. On my father's marriage in 1807, he took a house in Surrey Street, next door to the Smiths, and their intercourse was perpetual. I have myself no earlier recollection than that of her kindness to me and attachment to my mother. We used to sit in their pew at the Octagon Chapel, Norwich; and the first evening party I can remember was at her house, when Mrs. Opie and William Taylor were present--the latter I think rather drunk! We found Lady Smith at Lowestoft on this 24th of May, sitting in her chair, looking extremely well, though shrunk; her voice was firm and unchanged; no deafness; no dulness of sight; and when they served a little collation she had ordered for us, she got up, moved to the table, and did the honours.