Dear Sir,--I received your letters of the 23rd and 25th this
morning. I am glad to hear the remains of my late dear and most
illustrious brother are at length removed to Mr. Peddieson's
coffin, and safely deposited in Greenwich Hospital. Your kind and
affectionate attention throughout the whole of this mournful and
trying scene cannot fail to meet my sincere and grateful thanks,
and that of the whole family. I am perfectly satisfied with the
surgeon's reports which have been sent to me, that every thing
proper has been done. I could wish to have known what has been
done with the bowels--whether they were thrown overboard, or
whether they were preserved to be put into the coffin with the
body. The features being now lost, the face cannot, as Mr. Beatty
very properly observes, be exposed; I hope therefore everything is
closed and soldered down.
I wrote to Mr. Tyson a few days ago, and should be glad to hear
from him. I mean to go towards London about the 1st, 2nd or 3rd of
Jan (the day not yet fixed), and call at Greenwich for a moment,
just to have a melancholy sight of the coffin, &c. &c., when I
hope I shall see you.
I shall be glad to hear from you as often as you have any thing
new to communicate, and how the preparations go on. Every thing
now is in the hands of government, but, strange to tell, I have
not yet heard from the Herald's Office, whether _I_ am to attend
the procession or _not_.
Believe me,
Your much obliged humble servant,