I am called upon to perform a melancholy office, and to acquaint you
with what I am sure you will esteem a loss, whatever accession of
fortune you may derive from it.
Last Sunday sevennight I dined with our friend Mr. Scott at Mrs.
Porten's, and thought him remarkably well and in spirits. On Thursday
I went down into Sussex, and the bad foggy weather we had in town
prevented my calling upon him in the mean time. He was however
already very much out of order, with a bad cold apparently and a
general weakness; his Apothecary however thought him in no danger,
till Dr. Fothergill, who was sent for, apprehended there was a great
deal, though he would not suffer the people of the House to acquaint
him with it. They, on the Monday 28th instant, thought it incumbent
on them to inform Mr. Oliver, the only friend of his they knew, of
his dangerous situation. Mr. Oliver, on the receipt of their very
pressing letter, immediately dispatched a Post Office Express to Mr.
Gibbon of Petersfield, and the Express (returned by the care of Mr.
Bayley and Griffiths of the Cocoa Tree) reached me last night very
late at Sheffield Place. I came up to Town this morning, but was too
late. Your kinsman and my friend had already terminated a blameless
and happy life by a very easy death about three o'clock Tuesday
afternoon. There was so little appearance of a visible illness that
Dr. Fothergill could only call it a sudden but general decay of
Nature.
After consulting with Sir Stanier Porten[182] we both judged it
would be right to take no steps with regard to his Effects till you
could be informed of what had happened. We went to his Lodgings this
afternoon, and in the presence of the Landlord, the Apothecary and
Mr. Newton's Clerk, we examined every probable place in search of
a Will but found none. All the papers that seemed of any moment we
locked up in a trunk and put our Seal upon it. The principal one is
a bond of £1980 from me to Mr. Scott only a few days ago to pay off
the Clarkes. I heartily wish that you may be my Creditor. I suppose
it will be necessary and proper for you immediately to examine
Mr. Scott's Lodgings at Bath, which I think was more his regular
residence than London. If no Will should be found anywhere, you are
his natural heir, nor do I understand that it will be necessary for
you to come to town to administer unless you chuse it.
As I do not see that I can be of any immediate use to you, I propose
returning to Sheffield to-morrow for about ten or twelve days more,
but if I am wanted sooner, shall be ready at an hour's warning either
to attend you in London or to execute any of your directions. Sir
Stanier, who sincerely laments our old friend, proposes to undertake
what requires the most immediate care, but it will be necessary
for him to know whether, in case of a Will, Mr. Scott has left any
orders concerning his funeral, or whether you would chuse to give
any particular ones yourself. If the matter is left to him, we had
agreed that it should be in the Parish Church plain, decent and
private. Tuesday next is the last day, and it would, I should think,
be better to send your letter to Sir Stanier by a Post Office Express
under cover to the Earl of Rochefort, Cleveland Row, which franks the
Express.
The nature of the subject and the length of this letter prevents
me from adding any more than that I most sincerely wish you every
happiness of the next and of many succeeding years.
I am, Dear Madam,
Most truly yours,
E. GIBBON.
[182] See note to Letter 204.
163.
_To J. B. Holroyd, Esq._
Pall Mall, January 16th, 1773.