'I am reading a sweet book, "The Farthing Spinster", by Catherine Dodd. Some of the passages about gardens are beautiful. Here are some of the most lovely [...] from the diary of an early 18C lady. I wish my diary could be as beautiful as that. Another of her gardens was of "sweet scents" [...]. "A houseful of books and a garden full of flowers" would be enchanting. In the same book is a delicious description of syllabub, a sweet then in fashion; [...] I love food. I wonder if it is greed or just because I love to see things served well and carefully with their proper etceteras. I think books, food, lovely pictures, good plays and nice clothes are the most interesting things in my life! I suppose the book has made me think of these things.'