very true, and though not to the purpose
for which I was seeking it yet will very well serve another. I wish
my dear Madam, very sincerely, that the former mode of destruction may
speedily befall all your present hopes, and that in future you will be
surrounded by so many blessings as will leave you no room for the
exercise of any hope but their continuance, My duty to my father, and
my love to William, I trust that he improves in Latin; pray tell him
that I was vexed not to find him so good a scholar in that language as
I expected; when I next see him I hope my expectations will be
exceeded.

I am, my dear Madam,
Yours very truly,
HENRY COOPER."

The following letter I have previously made reference to. It is written,
evidently, in despondency, and heartfelt sorrow, under the shock of the
frightful calamity. It relates to the disastrous death of poor Alfred,
his youngest brother. It is dated from, and bears date

2, _Elm Court_, _Temple_,
25_th_ _June_, 1822.

To the same,--

I received your letter yesterday, but I was so ill (that important as
the occasion is) I could not answer it. To-day, nothing less than the
urgency of the subject could prevail upon me to make the smallest
exertion, for I am scarcely able to drag one limb up to the other. I
have a violent catarrh, the glands of my throat are further inflamed
and ulcerated, and I am burning with fever.

With regard to divulging to Harriet the disastrous event, for which,
when once known to her, she can never be consoled; I am in a very
unfit state to give advice. I am as I have always been of opinion,
that it should be concealed from her as long as it can. It is a more
generous cause of grief than the loss of a lover; and as Harriet's
mind is built, I think more likely to shock and destroy her. You
state only one reason for breaking the secrecy which has hitherto been
observed--that it appears strange, the event public, that you are not
in mourning for it. I cannot but think that if any good can
reasonably be expected from withholding the knowledge of this dreadful
incident, it would be wrong and trifling to forego it, for the
senseless custom of putting yourself in black for a few months. I
have no crape about me. If any one were to ask the cause of my
disregard of a paltry decorum, I should either turn on my heel from
him, or explain to h