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 sermons with some body in it which one seldom hears. I was tired and did not go in the evening, but went and sat with Mrs. —— while the others were at church.

Thursday, October 2.

There was very bad news from Afghanistan yesterday; General Sale obliged to retreat to Jellalabad, leaving two cannon behind him; some of the Shah’s troops had gone over to the enemy, and General Sale was surrounded by thousands of Afghans and with very few provisions, and it is a country in which retreat is almost impossible, full of mountain passes, and no provisions but what an army can take with it. Our Captain M—— is the political agent there. His father, mother, and sister were all here last night, so proud of him and so pleased with all his exertions. Poor people! they have an anxious time before them, and so have many others.

Friday, 3rd.

The accounts are much worse again this morning. There has been a rebellion in the town of Cabul; poor Sir A. Burnes and his