I do not at all regard Martha's disappointment in the island; she will like it the better in the end. I cannot help thinking and re-thinking of your going to the island so heroically. It puts me in mind of Mrs. Hastings' voyage down the Ganges, and, if we had but a room to retire into to eat our fruit, we would have a picture of it hung there.

I love this little bit out of the letter. The reference is explained in the LeFaye editon thus:

- In 1782 Warren Hastings's wife Marian made a hasty and dangerous voyage down the stormy Ganges, travelling 400 miles in 3 days to nurse him when he had fallen seriously ill. A few years later, Hastings commissioned William Hodges to illustrate this event, and a large canvas known at Mrs. Hastings at the Rocks of Colgong [above] was the result. This, with other Indian scenes by Hodges, was hung in the 'picture room' at Daylsesford.