He even proposed the other day to Malcolm to wait for his brother’s arrival before he married. Malcolm smiled; but declined the advice. You saw enough of our doctor, when you were at Farefield, to enter into the spirit of my allusion, when I call him the sun which cheers us. We may say with truth that we live in his smiles. Should you fancy this expression too poetical to suit with Douglass’s stern face, it is because you have not seen him when with a patient who he thinks wants comfort more than medicine. Did they inform you that he never quitted my room during six and thirty hours? Horace will love him, Lucy, and you will be grateful. Amongst other ingenious hypotheses which he maintained this morning was one that will please you; for he proved to demonstration that Miss Cowley “had the strength of a horse.” He has been scolding me for this last hour; and has provoked me to laugh at him and myself. Oh! how tedious are the hours till I hear from you. Mrs. Allen sends her good wishes with your RACHEL COWLEY’S. P. S. I am well, quite well, Lucy! my cordial in my bosom! Do not mind a word in this letter. Douglass will triumph. He predicted how it would be; when the wind blew propitiously. LETTER LXXVII. _From Mrs. Serge to Miss Cowley._ MY DEAR MISS COWLEY, It would give me inexpressible concern, could I for a moment believe that you “himagine” I have forgotten you, or the promise I made you, when at Farefield Hall. You can be no stranger to the “hevents” which have taken place in my family since that time; and of course these will account to you for my “happarent” neglect. I have endeavoured to practise what I preach, which is more, as Mrs. Dangle says, than _many_ who are paid for preaching do; for, as I have said in my letter to Lady Maclairn, I see that nothing good comes from sorrowing for those who are removed from this world. Death is appointed for all; and the best thing we can do is to submit to the loss of our friends and relations, who are summoned away before us. I dare say the death of Mr. Flamall has made her ladyship very unhappy, but time will restore her spirits, unless she do as my Jerry “_do_,” yield to grief, and mope in her room. My kind friend, Mrs. Dangle, would not permit me to remain at Putney, where it was impossible I could have recovered my spirits. She has a charming house in the Haymarket; and since I have been her guest, I am much better; and indeed should be quite well, were it not for the vexation Nora “give” me. You will be quite astonished to see the _halteration_ a few months of matrimony “have” made in her; and it will give you a dread of love matches! But I would not discourage you. Nora “have” only to thank herself for all that “have” happened to disturb her. Captain Fairly is not to blame, because his wife is jealous; nor Mrs. Dangle,