Beriton, July the 3rd, 1770.
Dear Sir,
HIS FATHER'S ILLNESS.
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.