45 



eleventh month. She was to all appearance per- 

 fectly well on the third of this month, — in good 

 spirits, — slept well for nine hours on that night. 

 Early on the morning of the fourth she was seized 

 with a heaviness, looked pale, and could not keep 

 up her head. We called in our physician, and sent 

 an express eight miles off for another who is much 

 esteemed here in the treatment of young children. 

 They administered some remedies, — applied blis- 

 ters to her legs : she appeared somewhat better for 

 an hour, looked up to her mother and me when 

 we spoke to her. In the night she grew worse, 

 was seized with convulsions ; and about nine o'clock 

 the next morning the dear little angel expired. No 

 mother, I believe, has ever shown more assiduous 

 care from the moment of her child's birth. So 

 constant has her attention been, day and night, 

 that her own health is much affected by the fatigue 

 attending the tender care of her beloved offspring. 

 Her affliction is so great, so deep, — and not ex- 

 pressed, as less serious grief, by tears, — that I am now 

 anxious for her. I have already taken her, endea- 

 vouring to divert her thoughts, to spend a week at 

 a friend's at some distance ; and in a few days we 

 undertake a journey wholly for the same purpose. 

 I shall take her to Basle, where she has never been, 

 and we shall stay a few days with La Chenal. 



You will readily pardon me, my dearest and very 

 best friend, if I have entered too minutely on a sub- 

 ject which has dejected me beyond all expression. 

 My fondness for my child was excessive, — by many 

 it would be called unmanly; but I have always been 



