‘My dear and venerable Friend,—I am ashamed of myself for having allowed more than a year to pass without having acknowledged the receipt of your letter of the 22nd of March 1853, and thanked you for your ready compliance with the request of the literary executors of Mr. Webster. It is not necessary that they should have the originals of his letters in their possession, and they are grateful to you for sending the copies.
‘Although I have not informed myself directly relative
to your health, our good friend Sir Henry
Holland seldom writes to me without mention of it. I rejoice
that you
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‘My own health is not satisfactory; and I am now in Boston to take advice of my family physician. Although there is a considerable difference in our ages, there will be no great difference in the time at which we cross the stream.
‘My wife has been for more than a twelvemonth confined to her bedroom a confirmed invalid. My eldest son is well married and entering upon his profession as a surgeon; my second son is about to begin his last year at college; and my “youngest hope,” as you used to call him, will enter college this year, not quite fifteen years of age. My daughter—now the mother of two children—is following the movements of her husband, who is an officer in our navy, and now in the Mediterranean. I write you of these children, all very dear to me, because you have signalised them by your kind remembrance.
‘Adieu, my venerable and beloved friend, and if you can spare a few moments, let me have a line or two to assure me that you have not forgotten your sincerely affectionate
