I arrived in town between four and five o'clock safe and well, though
almost frozen.--Turton[14] was not to be found, but I will endeavour
to see him to-morrow; though I believe that change of air and scene
will be of greater benefit to me, than any prescriptions he can order
me.--I write from Mrs. Porten's,[15] who begs to be remembered to you
in the kindest terms. She is totally ignorant of _forms_, but will
see Mrs. Darrel to-morrow morning and endeavour to settle everything.
Let me entreat you, my dearest Mrs. Gibbon, to try to divert
thoughts, which cannot be suppressed, and believe me that I can only
be easy as I have reason to think that you are so.
I am, Dear Madam,
Most truly yours,
E. G.
Dean's Yard. Tuesday Evening. Nine o'clock.
My sincerest compliments wait on Mr. and Mrs. Bayley. I wish they
would recollect anything in which I could be useful to them in town.
[14] Dr. John Turton (1736-1806) was in 1782 appointed physician
to both the King and Queen. He attended Goldsmith on his
death-bed. His progress to fame and fortune was very rapid, and
when he died he left his widow £9000 a year in land, and £60,000
in the funds. "The bulk of his great fortune he has bequeathed,
after the death of his wife, to her Royal Highness the Princess
Mary, their Majesty's fourth daughter" (_Annual Register_, April
15, 1806).
[15] Miss Porten had now removed from College Street to a large
boarding-house which she had built in Dean's Yard, Westminster.
13.
_To his Father._
New Bond St., December the 14th, 1758.