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Dear sir,

LETTER III.

To Archdeacon S

Dublin, March 22, 1743.

Adieu! Perhaps I may be alive when these lines come to your hands :—more probably not!Believe me, my friend, there is no comfort in this world, but a life of virtue and piety; and no death supportable, but one comforted by Christianity, and its real and rational hope. The first, I doubt not, you experience daily may it be long before you experience the second!

I have passed through good report and evil report: I have not been injured more than outwardly, by the last; and I have been solidly benefited by the former. May all who love the truth in Christ Jesus, and sincerely obey the Gospel, be happy!

Adieu!—I have no more strength. My affectionate, last adieu to your lady!

Thomas Derry.

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It is a most sensible and painful addition to my concern and affliction for my dear wife, to hear of your being so ill with the stone; and, loaded as my heart is with my other grief, I cannot help writing, to tell you how much I feel for you, and how ardently I pray to God to relieve you.

Last night all my thoughts were employed on you; for, when I went to bed, my poor Lucy was so much better, that we thought her in a fair way of recovery but my uneasiness for you kept me awake great part of the night; and in the morning I found she had been much worse, so that our alarm was as great as ever. She has since mended again, and she is now pretty nearly as you heard by the last post; only that such frequent relapses give one more cause to fear that the good symptoms, which sometimes appear, will not be lasting. On the other hand, by her struggling so long, and her pulse recovering itself so well as it does, after these violent flurries, and great sinkings, one would hope that nature is strong in her, and will be able at last, to conquer her illness. Sir Edward Hulse seems now inclined to trust to that, and to trouble her with no more physic. Upon the whole, her case is full of uncertainty, and the doctors

can pronounce nothing positively about her; but they rather think it will be an affair of time.

My own health is yet tolerably good, though my heart has gone through as severe a trial as it can well sustain; more indeed than I thought it could have borne. You may be assured, dear sir, I will make use of all the supports that religion or reason can give me, to save me from sinking under it. I know the interest you take in my life and health and I know it is my duty to try not to add to your other pains that of my loss; which thought has as great an effect upon me as any thing can. And I believe God Almighty supports me above my own. strength, for the sake of my friends who are concerned for me; and in return for the resignation with which I endeavour to submit to his will. If it please him, in his infinite mercy, to restore my dear wife to me, I shall most thankfully acknowledge his goodness; if not, I shall most humbly endure his chastisement, which I have too much deserved.

These are the sentiments with which my mind is replete but as it is still a most bitter cup, how my body will bear it, if it must not pass from me, is impossible for me to foretell. I hope the best.

Gilbert West would be happy in the reputation his book has gained him, if my poor Lucy were not so ill. However, his mind leans always to hope; which is an advantage both to him and me, as it makes him a better comforter. To be sure, we ought not yet to despair; but there is much to fear, and a most melancholy interval. to be supported, before any certainty comes.--God send may come well at last!

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I am,
dear sir,

Your most afflicted, but most affectionate son,

George Lyttelton.

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My concern was so great on the account I received from the bishop of Worcester of the ill state of your health, that in the midst of my grief for the death of my father, when I had scarcely performed my last duties to him, I wrote to you at Bristol; which letter, I find, you never received. Indeed, my dear friend, there are few losses I should more sensibly feel than yours, if it should please God to take you from us. But, I trust, he will be so gracious to your family and your friends, as to prolong your life, and defer your reward for some time longer. And I am persuaded, no human means can be found better than that which has been prescribed to you of removing to Lisbon, and passing the winter in that mild climate: only let me entreat you to lay by all studies while you are there; for too much application (and a very little in your state is too much) would frustrate the benefit which we may hope from the change of air. The complying with this injunction, will be the best recompense you can make Mrs. Doddridge for all the obligations you have to her; and if I have any authority with you, as I flatter myself I have, I would employ it all to enforce this upon you, for I do indeed think your life will depend upon it. You have, I believe, brought on your illness by continual study and labour; and an entire remission of mind is absolutely necessary for your recovery.

My father met death with a noble firmness, and an assured hope of a blessed immortality; so that our

thoughts are raised above our grief, and fixed much more on the example he has left us, than on the loss we have sustained. It is also a comfort to us, that, upon his body being opened, as he ordered it should be, we find the cause of his violent pains was of such a nature as death alone could remove or relieve.

Let me know by every mail how you do; and depend upon it, that if Providence shall call you away to the crown prepared for you, nothing in my power shall be wanting, as long as I live, to show the affection I had for you, in my regard to your widow and family; but, I hope, your life will be preserved to be an ornament to the Christian church, and a support of religion in these bad times. May God Almighty grant it; and may we meet again, with the pleasure which friends restored to each other, feel after so alarming a parting! But if that be denied, may we meet in the next world to part no more, through His power, who will, I trust, blot out my offences, and make me worthy to be a partaker with you of his heavenly kingdom!

sir,

I am, with the tenderest regard and affection, dear

Your most faithful friend and servant,

George Lyttelton.

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