An incident that might have cost Mrs. Scott her life, from her cap having caught fire, is cheerfully noticed in a letter, dated Saturday, March 1, 1778, from Mrs. Scott to Mrs. Robinson: “I am burned pretty deep in the back of my neck.... From thence to my face, I have reason to hope, will be more speedy of cure, and the little damage my face received is well already, except an abridgment of eyebrow and eyelash, which, perhaps, may never come again, and I am perfectly indifferent whether they do or no; for at fifty-five (at least), half an eyebrow is just as good as a whole one. I have reason to think myself most happy in having come off so well as I did, considering all the very horrid circumstances of the affair....” Of one of her nephews, she significantly adds: “I think how much better a good dull man is than a Charles Fox and many others, whose talents and vices have grown together in a superlative degree.” And in a subsequent letter she treats of her young niece and what young nieces love: _May 7, 1778._ Mrs. Scott to Mrs. Robinson.—“I had the pleasure of seeing your daughter on Monday look very well, and dance a good minuet.... Her mantua-maker is certainly the most insatiable of that insatiable tribe. She requires two yards more of lutestring, tho’ she has already had twenty-three, which is most shameful; and her art gives her no right to be so, for it is not well made; at least, the sleeves set abominably.... The ball was resplendent—was full, and the children’s dresses extremely expensive, and very pretty and whimsical; but I could not forbear being sorry to see so much extravagance used, to breed girls as early as possible to the love of it, as if it would not come quite soon enough: though my niece’s dress was not chargeable with that fault: being white, it looked very nice and genteel, and became her.... “It is reported that Lord Percy’s haste for a divorce is increased by his having fallen violently in love with Miss Burrell. It is so like a story to be made that the truth appears to me doubtful.” ... The same writer subsequently touches on a variety of subjects: “Mrs. (Morris) Robinson tells me she finds a good dinner more necessary than ever; ... and as she is determined to live in London, tho’ she should be able to afford but one room, yet she has friends who will often invite her to a good house and a good dinner. “... Her resentment appears to me very unreasonable, but her anger was always more ready at call than her reason, and, by her present distresses, seems to have gained superior strength. Had the late misfortunes softened her temper into mildness, she might justly have said, ‘It is good for me that I have been afflicted!’”