ever blossoms--and where N--f--d heals. At present I take nothing, but
am trying for a few days what honest Nature, unperplexed by Art, will
do for me.--I am pretty much swelled still; but I take short airings in
the near stages, such as Greenwich, Clapham, Newington, &c. &c. Walking
kills me. The mind--the mind, my ever dear and honoured friends--the
mind requires her lullaby;--she must have rest ere the body can be in
a state of comfort, she must enjoy peace, and that must be found in
still repose of family and home. Mrs. Sancho, who speaks by her tears,
says what I will not pretend to decypher;--I believe she most fervently
recommends you to that Being who best knows you--for he gave you your
talents. My most grateful and affectionate respects, joined with Mrs.
Sancho’s, attend the good Mrs. S----, thyself, and all thy connexions.
I cannot say how much we are obliged to you; but certainly we were
never so much nor so undeservingly obliged to any before. God keep you
in all your doings--prays thine,
SANCHO.
LETTER CLVIII.
TO J---- S----, ESQ.
Dec. 7, 1780.
DEAR SIR,
I AM doubly and trebly happy, that I can in some measure remove the
anxiety of the best couple in the universe. I set aside all thanks--for
were I to enter into the feelings of my heart for the past and present,
I should fill the sheet: but you would not be pleased.--In good truth,
I have been exceeding ill--my breath grew worse--and the dropsy made
large strides.--I left off medicine by consent for four or five days,
swelled immoderately:--the good Dr. N--f--d eighty miles distant--and
Dr. J--bb heartily puzzled through the darkness of his patient--I began
to feel alarm--when, looking into your letter, I found a Dr. S--th
recommended by yourself. I enquired--his character is great--but for
lungs and dropsy, Sir John E--t, physician extraordinary and ordinary
to his Majesty, is reckoned the first. I applied to him on Sunday
morning--he received me like Dr. N--f--d;--I have faith in him.--My
poor belly is so distended, that I write with pain--I hope next week to
write with more ease. My dutiful respects await Mrs. S---- and self, to
which Mrs. Sancho begs to be joined by her loving husband, and
Your most grateful friend,
I. SANCHO.
Mr. Sancho died December 14.
FINIS.
Transcriber's Notes
The following changes have been made to the text as printed:
1. Footnotes have been located immediately below the letter within
which they occur, and marked numerically.
2. Apparent typographical errors have been changed.
3. To avoid an excessively long line, a line break has been inserted
after "loungibuss--" near the start of Letter LI (Page 132).
4. The subheading for Letter XCII (Page 242) has been corrected
from "TO MR. H----." to "TO MRS. H----."
The following anomalies in the printed text are noted, but no change
has been made:
1. Variable, archaic and inconsistent spelling, punctuation and
hyphenation have been left unchanged, apart from apparent typographical
errors.
2. Dashes vary in length. Shorter dashes have been rendered as --, and
longer dashes as ----.
3. Letter LIV (Page 144) contains a sequence of spaced hyphens,
which have been reproduced as printed.
4. There are two successive letters headed LETTER LXVIII (Pages
186 and 195), the second letter being out of date order.