s
introduced, apparently merely to be delineated. We
have not been able to recognise any of them
hitherto, except Dr. and Mrs. Hey and Mr. Oxenden,
who is not very tenderly treated. . . .

We have got Boswell's _Tour to the Hebrides_, and
are to have his _Life of Johnson_; and as some
money will yet remain in Burdon's hands, it is to
be laid out in the purchase of Cowper's works.
This would please Mr. Clarke, could he know it.

Steventon: [December 1, 1798].

MY DEAR CASSANDRA,--I am so good as to write you
again thus speedily, to let you know that I have
just heard from Frank. He was at Cadiz, alive and
well, on October 19, and had then very lately
received a letter from you, written as long ago as
when the _London_ was at St. Helen's. But his
_raly_ latest intelligence of us was in one from
me of September 1st, which I sent soon after we
got to Godmersham. He had written a packet full
for his dearest friends in England, early in
October, to go by the _Excellent_; but the
_Excellent_ was not sailed, nor likely to sail,
when he despatched this to me. It comprehended
letters for both of us, for Lord Spencer,[85] Mr.
Daysh,[86] and the East India Directors. Lord St.
Vincent had left the fleet when he wrote, and was
gone to Gibraltar, it was said to superintend the
fitting out of a private expedition from thence
against some of the enemies' ports; Minorca or
Malta were conjectured to be the objects.

Frank writes in good spirits, but says that our
correspondence cannot be so easily carried on in
future as it has been, as the communication
between Cadiz and Lisbon is less frequent than
formerly. You and my mother, therefore, must not
alarm yourselves at the long intervals that may
divide his letters. I address this advice to you
two as being the most tender-hearted of the
family.

My mother made her _entree_ into the dressing-room
through crowds of admiring spectators yesterday
afternoon, and we all drank tea together for the
first time these five weeks. She has had a