Page:Memoir and correspondence of Caroline Herschel (1876).djvu/209

Rh sent me your thanks for the very letters which caused me such fears.

But it grieves me you should yourself take the trouble of writing to me; the least kind expression from you dictated to Miss B. is sufficient to make me happy for many days after. I hope she will not be taken from you again for a long time, for she is the most cheerful companion in health and consoling one in sickness you could have about you.

I was sorry to hear by a letter from Mr. H. Griesbach to my brother that you had had another attack of the gout, but God grant I may hear soon it may have been of short duration. Daily we come to hear of the departure of a friend or some one we know, but at our time of life it cannot be otherwise, for many of those we knew were older than ourselves, and it is painful to see when we at last are left to stand (or lie) alone, which is often the case with a single person; for no attention can equal or be more cheering than what comes from the heart of an affectionate child. But no more of this; if we must grieve, there is the comfort we shall not grieve much longer.

The death of my eldest nephew I lament sincerely, for he was deserving to have enjoyed the prosperity of his children some years longer, but by a letter I had from Miss G. I was gratified to know that they had found (for the present) so noble a support from the King and from the excellent Countess of Harcourt. As to the exit of poor F. Griesbach, it gave me more joy than pain; for nothing but the grave could relieve him from wretchedness; and nothing but that would rouse his posterity to a sense of their duty, which is to work for an honest livelihood; even the youngest is old enough to do so, and I hope to hear that they may awake from their dreams of commissions in the army and midshipmen in the navy. The lot of the children of a poor musician and descendants of a menial servant (even to a king)