went abroad, was pronounced
the gout, by the skillful, and proved at last a mere rheumatism. Take
care that the same mistake is not made this year; and that by giving you
strong and hot medicines to throw out the gout, they do not inflame the
rheumatism, if it be one.

Mr. Wilkes has imitated some of the great men of antiquity, by going into
voluntary exile: it was his only way of defeating both his creditors and
his prosecutors. Whatever his friends, if he has any, give out of his
returning soon, I will answer for it, that it will be a long time before
that soon comes.

I have been much out of order these four days of a violent cold which I
do not know how I got, and which obliged me to suspend drinking the
waters: but it is now so much better, that I propose resuming them for
this week, and paying my court to you in town on Monday or Tuesday
seven-night: but this is 'sub spe rati' only. God bless you!

LETTER CCLXVII

BLACKHEATH, July 20, 1764.

MY DEAR FRIEND: I have this moment received your letter of the 3d from
Prague, but I never received that which you mention from Ratisbon; this
made me think you in such rapid motion, that I did not know where to take
aim. I now suppose that you are arrived, though not yet settled, at
Dresden; your audiences and formalities are, to be sure, over, and that
is great ease of mind to you.

I have no political events to acquaint you with; the summer is not the
season for them, they ripen only in winter; great ones are expected
immediately before the meeting of parliament, but that, you know, is
always the language of fears and hopes. However, I rather believe that
there will be something patched up between the INS and the OUTS.

The whole subject of conversation, at present, is the death and will of
Lord Bath: he has left above twelve hundred thousand pounds in land and
money; four hundred thousand pounds in cash, stocks, and mortgages; his
own estate, in land, was improved to fifteen thousand pounds a-year, and
the Bradford estate, which he-----is as much; both which, at only
five-and twenty years' purchase, amount to eight hundred thousand pounds;
and all this he has left to his brother, General Pulteney, and in his own
disposal, though he never loved him. The legacies he has left are
trifling; for, in truth, he cared for nobody: the words GIVE and BEQUEATH
were too shocking for him to repeat, and so he left all in one word to
his brother. The public, which was long