ll join him, and he'll soon get the better of this
chicken-hearted folly, never fear; and will then be ashamed of himself:
and then we'll not spare him; though now, poor fellow, it were pity to
lay him on so thick as he deserves. And do thou, till then, spare all
reflections upon him; for, it seems, thou hast worked him unmercifully.

I was willing to give thee some account of the hand we have had with the
tearing fellow, who had certainly been a lost man, had we not been with
him; or he would have killed somebody or other. I have no doubt of it.
And now he is but very middling; sits grinning like a man in straw;
curses and swears, and is confounded gloomy; and creeps into holes and
corners, like an old hedge-hog hunted for his grease.

And so, adieu, Jack. Tourville, and all of us, wish for thee; for no one
has the influence upon him that thou hast.

R. MOWBRAY.

As I promised him that I would write for the particulars abovesaid, I
write this after all are gone to bed; and the fellow is set out
with it by day-break.

LETTER VII

MR. BELFORD, TO ROBERT LOVELACE, ESQ.
THURSDAY NIGHT.

I may as well try to write; since, were I to go to bed, I shall not
sleep. I never had such a weight of grief upon my mind in my life, as
upon the demise of this admirable woman; whose soul is now rejoicing
in the regions of light.

You may be glad to know the particulars of her happy exit. I will try
to proceed; for all is hush and still; the family retired; but not one
of them, and least of all her poor cousin, I dare say, to rest.

At four o'clock, as I mentioned in my last, I was sent for down; and,
as thou usedst to like my descriptions, I will give thee the woeful scene
that presented itself to me, as I approached the bed.

The Colonel was the first that took my attention, kneeling on the side of
the bed, the lady's right hand in both his, which his face covered,
bathing it with his tears; although she had been comforting him, as the
women since told me, in elevated strains, but broken accents.

On the other side of the bed sat the good widow; her face overwhelmed
with tears, leaning her head against the bed's head in a most
disconsolate manner; and turning her face to me, as soon as she saw me,
O Mr. Belford, cried she, with folded hands--the dear lady--A heavy sob
permitted her not to say more.

Mrs. Smith, with clasped fingers, and uplifted eyes, as if imploring help
from the only Power which