and of my dear Lucy and other affairs, my heart will be at ease on Monday to give thee a particular account, especially if a Letter should inform me that thy leg is better, for I hope you do not think so unkindly of me as to imagine that I can be at rest while I believe my dear Tetty in pain.
Be assured, my dear Girl, that I have seen nobody in these rambles upon which I have been forced, that has not contribute [sic] to confirm my esteem and affection for thee, though that esteem and affection only contributed to encrease my unhappiness when I reflected that the most amiable woman in the world was exposed by my means to miseries which I could not relieve.
I am,
My charming Love
Yours
January 31st, 1739-40.
To Mr. James Elphinston
Dear Sir,
You have, as I find by every kind of evidence, lost an excellent mother; and I hope you will not think me incapable of partaking of your grief. I have a mother, now eighty-two years
