We are very happy to find by your last letter, that your health and
spirits are in so very good a state. I sincerely wish, that it were
in my power to return you as favourable an account of my poor father,
but indeed I apprehend him to be in a very bad way. Within these ten
days or fortnight he has been much worse than before. Dr. Cuthbert
was sent for last night from Portsmouth and has just left us. He is
convinced that my father's disorder must end in a dropsy, and fears
that his liver is affected. He neither eats nor sleeps, and is indeed
very ill. You may judge that Mrs. Gibbon & myself are very far from
being easy or happy.
Such an account, Dear Sir, promises you but little amusement at
Beriton, yet it is in such times that the company of a real friend
is the most acceptable. Yours would be most truly so to us all, and
particularly to myself. There are other subjects, which it is as
cruel to press, as inconvenient to neglect. I can hardly venture to
say that your presence would produce any effect, but I am too well
assured, that without your presence nothing can be done.
I am, Dear Sir,
Most truly yours,
E. G.
82.
_To J. B. Holroyd, Esq._
Beriton, August the 9th, 1770.