“I venture to address this to you at Holkham, where I
hope you and Lady Smith are now enjoying
the society of our excellent friends; and where I deeply lament that my infirm
health and increasing personal debility prevent me from being of the party. The
time seems to be approaching, when I must possess my soul in patience, and not
add to the unavoidable evils of life those which are the result of a fretful
temper and ill regulated passions, happy if those evils be not increased by
painful and distressing complaints, which, thanks be to God, have not hitherto
been my lot. I am well aware, that the powers of my mind have in some degree
partaken of the infirmities of my body, but not in such a degree as wholly to
deter me from my usual studies and pursuits, although I can only devote to them
a much smaller portion of time than formerly, and am some days obliged to
abstain from them altogether. The consequence of this is, that I am
endeavouring to bring them to a termination with all reasonable speed, being
unwilling to leave to be terminated by others that which by my own efforts I
may finish myself. I am now revising for the last time the Catalogue of the
MSS. at Holkham, with Mr. Madden’s
numerous additions, which have more than doubled the size of the work. I have
deter-
LIFE OF WILLIAM ROSCOE. | 371 |