1844-64. FRIENDSHIP WITH LORD JEFFREY. 359 



in your nature. The gentle and magnanimous cheerfulness with 

 which you bear continual sufferings, and the contentment with 

 which you have accepted a position which every one must feel 

 to be inadequate to your merits, have made a deep impression 

 on me from the first time I had the honour of your acquaintance ; 

 and I really cannot resist this opportunity of saying, both that 

 I shall be proud to learn that you think the offer of my friend- 

 ship worthy of your acceptance, and beg you to believe that 

 there are few things which would gratify me so much as to be 

 enabled at any time to render you any service. 



" I am not without fear that you will think all this veiy in- 

 trusive and impertinent and yet I hope not. At all events, I 

 really could not help it, and I am sure have been as far as pos- 

 sible from any purpose of vexing or offending you I 



hope this vernal-looking weather will tempt you soon to your 

 pleasant retreat, and that we shall all meet at Craigcrook in im- 

 proved 'health before the end of May. Meantime, believe me 

 always, really and truly, very affectionately yours, 



" F. JEFFREY." 



This warmth of regard continued unabated, and it may be 

 supposed, met with a ready response. In January 1850 George 

 writes to Dr. Cairns, " You will have heard of Lord Jeffrey's 

 death ? a great blow to me, for I had got to love him, and feel 

 a very strong affection for him. I called the very day of his 

 death, and found him, to my utter horror, believed to be rapidly 

 sinking." 



In the spring of 1817, there came again one of those great 

 waves of sorrow which, from time to time, well-nigh over- 



whelmed George. 



Yes, billow after billow see, they come 

 Faster and rougher as yon little boat 

 Nears evermore the haven." 



The heart- affection from which his sister Mary had suffered 

 for many years, had compelled cessation of active exertion, and 

 in her comparative exclusion from the outer world, it had been 

 her great delight to act, so far as strength permitted, as 

 George's amanuensis, entering into all his literary pursuits 



