I write two lines to acquaint you _that Clarke_ is much better than
he was; all doors have been set open for the retreat of the unwelcome
guest, and in a great measure he has taken the hint. Spirits have
rose with health, and he desires to be remembered to S. P.--Wilkes
is dangerously ill, we shall lose much amusement. The Victory of
the Russians is real but not decisive.[244] If you have an Irish
_Cream-cheese_ to spare, Bentinck Street is ready to receive it.
Success to the _august morrow_. It will be over ere you receive this.
Adieu.
I shall remember your frank, but the paper is not in my pocket, nor
the name in my memory.
[244] The Russian forces under Peter Alexandrovich Romanzow
(1725-1796) drove back the Turks and surrounded their camp at
Shumla, sixty miles south of Silistria, and one of the keys of
Constantinople. Peace was, in consequence of these successes,
signed July 21, 1774, between Russia and Turkey at Kainardji, by
which Azof was ceded to Russia and the freedom of the Black Sea
established.
208.
_To J. B. Holroyd, Esq._
Bond Street, Tuesday morning, eleven o'clock, August, 1774.