“Your mother,
foreseeing her approaching dissolution, requested that I would give this watch
to her daughter Caroline. I now perform
the sacred duty which she imposed upon me. I give it you, my dearest
grand-daughter; I trust that you will value it as it deserves to be valued. I
earnestly entreat you never to part with it; but to keep it for the sake of
your grandmother, who loved you—of her
grandmother, by whom she was herself beloved—of me, your grandfather, by whom
you are loved most tenderly; and above all, of your own most affectionate
mother. My dear grand-daughter Caroline, I give the watch
to you on Christmas-day, with the hope that this circumstance will make a deep,
lasting and solemn impression on your ingenuous mind; and I pray God Almighty
to bless you, your sister, and your father. Preserve this letter as long as you
live; and read it often and seriously. From just respect to the memory of the
dead, and tender regard for the living, I shall have the watch accompanied by
some additional presents. Keep them for my sake. Caroline,
at no very distant time, and, perhaps, before you visit me again at Hatton, I
may be called to another world; and the hand which writes this may be in the
cold and silent grave, near the remains of your aunt Catherine, your grandmother, your sister Madelina, and your mother. May God’s will
be done! and may we all meet together in heaven! Caroline,
dear Caroline, wheresoever I live, and whensoever I die,
it will be found that you had a
| LIFE OF DR. PARR. | 77 |
