I am sure it will give you pleasure to hear that young Henry is now considered fairly out of danger.

The wound is rapidly closing, & he has been out of doors. Seldom I believe has there been a more providential recovery. The eye which there was great reason to apprehend he would never be able to open, is safe: & he is likely to suffer no other inconvenience than that of wearing a plate upon the forehead to protect the place of the fracture. Had the hot weather which we had about three weeks ago occurred immediately after the accident it is hardly possible that he could have lived thro it. It remains to be seen whether this merciful deliverance will have any effect upon his conduct in after life. Were I his parent I should endeavor to make him profit by it.

The General himself has lately had a narrow tho ludicrous escape. He upset himself with an umbrella in a little skiff which Sir Fred: Morshead

had given him. It was within hearing of his own island; – the skiff was corked

so that it could not sink, but being half full of water after he had righted it, it was not possible for him to get in, & he being well buttoned up against a stormy day in a thick great coat, was in no plight for swimming, so he held on, & holloaed stoutly for assistance. His two men hastened off in his little boat, the large one happening to be on the opposite shore. The General had presence of mind enough to consider that if he attempted to get into this little boat he should in all likelihood pull her under water, & that neither of the men could swim; he therefore very coolly directed them to take the rope of the skiff & tow it to the island, with him at the end; – & in this way he came in, like a Triton,

waving his hat round his head & huzzaing as he approached his own shores – I ought to have told you that there came an invitation from him for you to dinner the day after your departure.

John May left me this day fortnight,

& D^r Bell departed some days after him. The exercise which I took with him compleated the good work which was begun with you, & has left me in a better state than I had been in for the two last years. By way of keeping it up while the season permits (nothing being so salutary to me as vigorous exercise) I went up Skiddaw Dod this morning, – one of the expeditions which is reserved for your next visit. On my return I found a letter from my brother Henry saying he shall be here on Wednesday. This will give me ten days more of laking & mountaineering, if the weather permit

The temptation which this country holds out to that exercise which is peculiarly necessary for me must be weighed among the many reasons for remaining in it. For with my sedentary habits & inactive inclinations I require all the <every> inducements to draw me out. But whether I remain or remove, I shall see you, my dear Lightfoot, ofte[MS missing] & often (God willing) both in Devonshire, & wherever I may be. I shall certainly come down to you when next I visit London, which will probably be in February or March.

During the little time which I have had for business I have written about half a paper for the Quarterly, upon a History of the Religious Sects of the last Century by the Ex-Bishop Gregoire,

– the book is curious for its strange mixture of revolutionary feelings with Catholic bigotry, and for the history <account> which it gives of irreligion in France. It gives me matter for an interesting paper, to be wound up with some seasonable observations upon the progress of infidelity at home.

God bless you my dear Lightfoot. M^rs S & her sisters

– & the girls

join in the kindest remembrances. Present my best wishes to M^rs L. & to all your children,

– Cupn who has just come in to give me hid good-night kiss, – has given me an additional one to send to you, – he is thank God in high health as well as in high glee -