_London, December 15, 1768._
_My dear Friend_,
YOU will see the contents of my letter to Dr. _E――――e_. I have
considered the affair of the picture. What think you? A limner who
lately drew me, and hung the picture up in the exhibition, asks forty
guineas for a copy. I shall not mind him, but send a bust taken several
years ago. It shall be paid for here, and presented as a token of
my hearty, hearty love to the Orphan-house at _Edinburgh_, and its
never-to-be-forgotten friends. Nothing but my disorder of body, GOD
willing, shall prevent my engagement in the plains of _Philippi_: But,
I fear, that will be an obstruction to so long a journey. You cannot
tell how low my late excursion only to _Bristol_ and _Bath_ brought me.
But I serve a GOD who killeth and maketh alive. I would leave future
events to Him, and like you merchants improve the present Now: time is
short; eternity is endless. The Judge hath sent this awful message,
“Behold, I come quickly.” That we all may be ready to go forth to meet
him, earnestly prays, my dear friend,
Less than the least of all,
_G. W._