NESSY HEYWOOD. 75 
reached her was aggravated by many malignant 
additions to the facts. She had been informed 
by one who came to break the news to her, that 
her son, as a ringleader of the mutiny, had gone 
armed into Bligh's cabin ! She could not, indeed, 
bring herself to believe the account; but, though 
she knew her dear boy's good qualities, she 
feared the worst results from his having been 
mixed up in such a disastrous transaction. 
His sister Nessy (Hester), uncertain whether 
he was alive or dead, had written him a letter, 
dated Isle of Man, 3d June, 1792, and had 
despatched it by " the hands of Mr.Hayward, of 
Hackney; the father," she says, " of the young- 
gentleman whom you, dear Peter, so often men- 
tioned m your letters while you were on board 
the Bounty, and who went out as a third lieu- 
tenant of the Pandora.''' 
After making many pathetic allusions to her 
brother's probable condition, and declaring her 
readiness, " without hesitation, to stake her life 
on his innocence," she adds, " How strange does 
it seem to me that I am now engaged in the de- 
lightful task of writing to you ! Alas ! my loved 
brother, two years ago I never expected again to 
enjoy such a felicity ; and even yet I am in the 
most painful uncertainty whether you are alive. 
The gracious God grant that we may be at 
length blessed by your return. But, alas ! the 
Pandoras people have been long expected, and 
are not even yet arrived. Should any accident 
have happened, after all the miseries you have 
already suffered, the poor gleam of hope with 
which we have been lately indulged, will render 
