O God! give me comfort and confidence in thee; forgive my sins; and, if it be thy good pleasure, relieve my diseases, for Jesus Christ’s sake.  Amen.

I am almost ashamed of this querulous letter; but now it is written, let it go.  I am, &c.

L.—­To MRS. THRALE.

DEAR MADAM,—­Among those that have inquired after me, sir Philip is one; and Dr. Burney was one of those who came to see me.  I have had no reason to complain of indifference or neglect.  Dick Burney is come home five inches taller.

Yesterday, in the evening, I went to church, and have been to-day to see the great burning-glass, which does more than was ever done before, by the transmission of the rays, but is not equal in power to those which reflect them.  It wastes a diamond placed in the focus, but causes no diminution of pure gold.  Of the rubies, exposed to its action, one was made more vivid, the other paler.  To see the glass, I climbed up stairs to the garret, and then up a ladder to the leads, and talked to the artist rather too long; for my voice, though clear and distinct for a little while, soon tires and falters.  The organs of speech are yet very feeble, but will, I hope, be, by the mercy of God, finally restored:  at present, like any other weak limb, they can endure but little labour at once.  Would you not have been very sorry for me, when I could scarcely speak?

Fresh cantharides were this morning applied to my head, and are to be continued some time longer.  If they play me no treacherous tricks, they give me very little pain.

Let me have your kindness and your prayers; and think on me, as on a man, who, for a very great portion of your life has done you all the good he could, and desires still to be considered, madam, your, &c.

LI.—­To MRS. THRALE.

London, July 1, 1783.

DEAREST MADAM,—­This morning I took the air by a ride to Hampstead, and this afternoon I dined with the club.  But fresh cantharides were this day applied to my head.

Mr. Cator called on me to-day, and told me, that he had invited you back to Streatham.  I showed the unfitness of your return thither, till the neighbourhood should have lost its habits of depredation, and he seemed to be satisfied.  He invited me, very kindly and cordially, to try the air of Beckenham; and pleased me very much by his affectionate attention to Miss Vesy.  There is much good in his character, and much usefulness in his knowledge.

Queeney seems now to have forgotten me.  Of the different appearance of the hills and valleys an account may, perhaps, be given, without the supposition of any prodigy!  If she had been out, and the evening was breezy, the exhalations would rise from the low grounds very copiously; and the wind that swept and cleared the hills, would only, by its cold, condense the vapours of the sheltered valleys.