810 
NOTE RESPECTING THE LATE MR. RICH, 
I confess this not without some feeling of shame; not, indeed, 
at the cause, for that was involuntary on my part, but being 
conscious that before you can learn the cause of the interruption 
in our correspondence, you must have condemned me over and 
over again. I shall proceed therefore, without more preface, to 
give you a slight sketch of my adventures, which will, I hope, 
prove a sufficient justification. 
“ Suppose, then, that my health not being in a remarkably 
good condition, was finally overturned by the extraordinary hot 
summer of 1819* : from the August of which year I began to 
decline most alarmingly, both in body and spirits, so much so, 
that I soon became incapable either of sitting on my horse, or 
attending to the slightest business; my life really was a burthen 
to me. The cold of the winter did not bring me its usual com¬ 
fort ; and the utmost I could do, after sundry remedies and 
exertions not worth recording, was to patch myself up suf¬ 
ficiently to begin some small excursions on a favourite project, 
i. e. surveying. These I found both amused and benefited me, 
and I gradually extended my circles up to Courdistan, where I 
had resolved to pass this summer, as the only chance of restoring 
the health both of Mrs. Rich and myself; for Mrs. Rich was 
nearly as ill as I was. The travelling, change of scene and of 
air, were quite successful. We resided in different parts of 
Courdistan till the latter end of October, when we came here; 
and here we have been ever since. When we shall return to 
Bagdad I scarcely yet know myself, but I suppose we shall be 
in the old residence again on the new year. 
* It was in December 1818 the author parted from Mr. Rich at Bagdad, being 
the winter immediately preceding that extraordinary and fatal summer. 
