[Footnote 3:  A noted miser, who raised a great fortune as a merchant at Venice, though his whole wealth, when he went thither, consisted in one of those vast wigs (a second-hand one, given to him) which were worn in the reign of Queen Anne, and which he sold for five guineas.  He returned to England, very rich, in the reign of George II., with his wife and three daughters, who would have been great fortunes.  The eldest, about eighteen, fell into a consumption, and, being ordered to ride, her father drew a map of the by-lanes about London, which he made the footman carry in his pocket and observe, that she might ride without paying a turnpike.  When the poor girl was past recovery, Sir Robert sent for an undertaker, to cheapen her funeral, as she was not dead, and there was a possibility of her living.  He went farther; he called his other daughters, and bade them curtsy to the undertaker, and promise to be his friends; and so they proved, for both died consumptive in two years.—­WALPOLE.]

[Footnote 4:  A lady who lived with Sir Robert Walpole, to take care of his youngest daughter, Lady Maria, after her mother’s death.  After Sir Robert’s death, and Lady Mary’s marriage with Mr. Churchill, she lived with Mr. H. Walpole to her death.—­WALPOLE.]

[Footnote 5:  As the sons of rajahs in India are called Rajah Pouts, and as turkeys came from the East, quaere if they were not called Turkey-pouts, as an Eastern diminutive?—­WALPOLE.]

5th.

I had written thus far yesterday.  This minute I receive your nephew’s of Sept. 20th; it is not such an one by any means as I had wished for.  He tells me you have had a return of your disorder—­indeed, he consoles me with your recovery; but I cannot in a moment shake off the impression of a sudden alarm, though the cause was ceased, nor can a second agitation calm a first on such shattered nerves as mine.  My fright is over, but I am not composed.  I cannot begin a new letter, and therefore send what I had written.  I will only add, what you may be sure I feel, ardent wishes for your perfect health, and grateful thanks to your nephew for his attention—­he is rather your son; but indeed he is Gal.’s son, and that is the same thing.  How I love him for his attendance on you! and how very kind he is in giving me accounts of you!  I hope he will continue, and I ask it still more for your sake than for my own, that you may not think of writing yourself.  If he says but these words, “My uncle has had no return of his complaint,” I shall be satisfied—­satisfied!—­I shall be quite happy!  Indeed, indeed, I ask no more.

LADY CRAVEN—­MADAME PIOZZI—­“THE ROLLIAD”—­HERSCHEL’S ASTRONOMICAL DISCOVERY.

TO SIR HORACE MANN.

BERKELEY SQUARE, Oct. 30, 1785.