LETTKR LXII. 113 



dear Gil, & forgive a human Infirmity, I iaave left ofif ye cold Bath 

 ever since ye first Frost : I have continued my Blister & have it 

 now ; & have once or twice been reduced to my Draughts ; but 

 am I thank God, pretty well, & have done all my own Duty of 

 late, nay & on Xmas Day, when I administered the Sacrament to 

 almost fourscore People. We have lost here two neighbours 

 whom You must remember, Mrs Bythel, Mrs Minicom's Sister, 

 & Mr Gamage who is not yet buried. You see I tell You of my 

 Neighbours as if You was bound to know ym as well as myself : 

 but if You do not know them, come here 'till You do. Whether 

 our Gravell & Elver, or your Clay & Woods are the colder this 

 weather I do not know ; but it seems today to be breaking : 

 Have You practised with your Scatas this Year the Lessons of 

 the Pens ? Goddard's Boat is stopped by the freezing of the 

 River at some of the Bridges below, & he plies by Land wth a 

 Cart. I don't hear that any of the everlasting Prebendaries of 

 Peterboro' are frozen this Winter ; I reckon they are braced up 

 for another Twelvemonth at least : I had some Hopes when 

 I heard that Tryce the Treasurer was robbed about Audit Time, 

 that the Fright of losing his Money might have affected old 

 Russell ; but he lives still. I hope your Friends are all pretty 

 well, tho' I suppose your Father is shut up before now. Is 

 your own Complaint got over? You did not use to be a Lingerer 

 in these foolish Ways. If a Change of Air is advised to You, 

 come here : Mrs Mulso is better able to help You than She was 

 k full as willing. She desires her affectionate Compliments "to 

 You, & I join my Love. I presume You will hot yet awhile 

 think of your Oxford Journey. I have lost my Assistant, Pindar, 

 i.e. Mr Gardiner, he is gone to Coll : for his Batchelor of 

 Divinity's Degree, & was not sure whether he should not take 

 his Doctor's ; but I have heard Nothing of him since. Great 

 are the Expectations about Byng's Tryal ; Great the Alterations 

 & Altercations amongst the Great: But I am one of the little, 

 & my Concern is to keep off Cold Hunger & Nakedness. I wish 

 only for the Chearfuluess of middling Life & the Neighbourhood 

 of ray Friend. 



I am, dear Gil, Afftely Your's, 

 P.S. Many happy Years to You & Yours ! J. M. 



Letter 63. 



Sunbury, 



Janry 13, 1757. 

 Dear Gil : 



I am very well pleased to have got a Letter out of You at 

 last, for I began to be in despair. However I was not so anxious 

 as I should have been had I not seen Benjamin in Town, who 



