LETTER CCXVIII 333 



a State after two sleepless Nights, that I should have breath'd 

 nothing but Woe & Melancholy. I thank God we have had a 

 still night and I have repaired my Spirit. I hope that You 

 have been able to appropriate some of your old epithets to your 

 House, 



a rural, shelter'd, unobserv'd Retreat. — 



the last it is not : for the Hospitality of the Master has call'd 

 it out of Obscurity ; but it's being shelter'd has in all likelihood 

 availed it in these perilous Hours. We have had such a Storm 

 of Wind, with Hail & Thunder, that call'd us out of our Beds, 

 & filled our hearts with Dismay & our bodies with Pains. Do 

 You call this the dear old October Weather, that. tempted Us to 

 wander on our higher Downs, and consoled Us after our Equi- 

 noctial Winds ? What is come to us ? This Georgium sidus has 

 not pushed so violently into our System as to make all these 

 Turbillons in our Elements ? Well ; but here we are ; safe, 

 thank God, after Peril ; and I hear of no Damage but in some 

 Tbatch, about my Premises : We have some Trees up-rooted in 

 the Village, they were an Ornament more than Use, and it is 

 a Pity, for there has raged seemingly a AevSpo<poPla in this 

 Neighbourhood that had laid us pretty bare before. I hope 

 that your snug Situation has secured You from Harm, & 

 perhaps yr Deafness prevented your hearing the Turmoils of 

 the tumbling air. 



I hope that the future Success of your Nephew John will 

 confirm the Joy that he seems to take in his present Election,* 

 and make you sensible that young People often make a better 

 choice than old ones would do for them. I am obliged to you 

 for ye Delicacy that You have shewen in not urging me to take 

 a avowed Part against young Fisher ; but I have very little 

 Interest in that Place, so it would not have signified. What 

 Service I may be able to do with regard to his Practise, I should 

 be very glad to do, if I am put in the way of it. I fancy Mr 

 Wyndham is already acquainted with your Nephew, & he will of 

 Course wait upon him ; the present Dean, & our own Dean are 

 the only Persons beside that I have any Acquaintance wth at 

 Salisbury, that I can recollect. I will willingly apply to them. 

 Our Dean has knowledge of you, & you have an old Claim at 

 least on Mrs J. Ekins, (the Dean of Sarum's Lady,) to give her a 

 Prevention in your favour, & mollify Dr Ekins to serve him. 



My Sister Chapone is now wth me & has been so for about 

 a Week. She exhausted some of the Time that She had destined 

 for us, in nursing poor Mrs Ogle at St Marie's, who is almost 



* As surgeon to the Infirmary at Salisbury. He was in practice at Alton 

 at this time, and his uncle and his mother had rather doubted the wisdom 

 of his accepting an unpaid appointment at Salisbury; where, however, he 

 met with good success eventually. 



