I have heard nothing new about Ch. Deacon. I sent him (Mr. Stanhope) a copy of the petition representing his case, and some further urging of my own. By a report not being made, I understand that the judges have made no report, which I am surprised at if that be the real meaning.
In a subsequent letter (August 4, 1748) to his “Dear Dolly” (his younger daughter, Dorothy, then a maiden of 18) he sends a translation of the verses, that young lady, as he says, not being “so book-learned as to understand them in the original.” They are as creditable to the heart as to the head of the writer for the evidence they afford of his unswerving fidelity to a friend in adversity. The following lines are a fair specimen:—
Three brothers—I shall only speak the truth—
Three brothers, hurried by mere dint of youth,
Precautious youth, were found in arms of late,
And rushing on to their approaching fate.
One, in a fever, sent up to be tried,
From jail to jail, delivered over, died;
Sick and distressed, he did not long sustain
The mortal shocks of motion and of pain.