LETTERCXIV.TO I—— S——, ESQ.
Charles Street, Nov. 21, 1779.
DEAR SIR,
WE are happy to hear, by brother O——, that you and Mrs S—— enjoy good health—may God preserve it, and increase your every comfort!
I am far from being sorry that you have not been in town this Autumn;—for London has been sickly—almost every body full of complaint; add also that the times are equally full of disease.—Luxury! Folly! Disease! and Poverty! you may see daily riding in the same coach—the doors ornamented with the honours of a virtuous ancestry topped with coronets, surrounded with mantle ermined;—and, alas! Corruption for the supporters.
Now, my good Sir, you can have no real pleasure but what must arise from your ownheart, were you amongst us—and that would be in pitying our weakness, and sighing over distresses your benevolence of heart could not alleviate!—and yet I fear—if you keep from town till times mend—I shall have no chance of seeing you this side eternity.—You should come up for a day or two, were it only to be witness to the roguery of M——rs and lottery-office-keepers—and the madness of the dupes of each.—I have much to thank you for—which I will not forget in a better world, if I see you not in this.—We have eat your turkey to-day;—it is a joke to say it was good—bad things seldom, if ever, come from Mr. S——. Mrs. Sancho joins me in thanks to Mrs. S——, who we hope will not be always unknown.—The customary wishes of the approaching sacred season to you and all your connexions.—Pray excuse blunders; for I am forced to write post, as I expect O—— every moment. As I write first, and think afterwards, my epistles are commonly in the Irish fashion. You, who prefer the heart to the head, will overlookthe error of the man who is, and ever will be, very sincerely and gratefully,
Your much obliged
friend and servant,
IGN. SANCHO.
It is expected the whole M——y will run from their posts before Friday next, L—d S—h and Lord N—h excepted: Now, I have a respect for L—d N—h: he is a good husband! father, friend, and master—a realgood man—but, I fear, a badm——r.