"I am entirely obliged to you," he observes[113], in one of these now before me, "for the comfortable subsistence I may expect from your generosity, if I should live a few years longer. If among the dead, don't forget the old place of our nativity; but let Ned[114] reside there. If the Judge[115] does not take him, (as I think he will, if her Ladyship pleases,) he will soon be with us, and will divert me in the decline of life. I shall be desirous of living a little longer, in hopes of seeing the joyful day when you and my daughter return to England; but whatever events may happen before that time, God only knows, to whose pleasure I desire to submit." The house of Styche had been given by Clive as a residence to his uncle, Mr. Robert Clive, who, with the other branches of the family, appears to have taken an interest in its being improved and beautified. I cannot refrain from making an extract from one of his letters on the subject. "Things go on," he writes[116], "as usual at Styche, and I enjoy a very comfortable existence, under your roof. My income enables me to keep house while the family are in town; and when they come down, I am glad to see them. Aunt Fanny is with me this winter. I am in hopes of seeing you here again, and your most amiable lady, to whom I beg my most affectionate compliments. O that these next ships might bring you over! But I am well assured, your desire is towards your native country and your friends, and that you will be with us as soon as you can. Styche is now leased to a tenant; but as the term is expired within about two years, I think it will be better not to renew it but only from year to year, that you may be able to make such alterations as you please when you come to England. Mr. Mackworth has consented to our having a road over the meadows, and we have built a bridge for that purpose, which is a great convenience; many more might be thought of and had, were you here with one of Rajah Dowlah's millions. In the mean time, if you think of any thing that you would have done, I shall think myself honoured by a commission from you." Clive's return to India in 1755, and the successes which attended him during the three following years, attracted more of the public notice from being contrasted with the reverses which had attended the British arms in Europe and America during this unpropitious period. The success at Gheriah even, which (had the public mind not been full of disappointment) would probably not have been mentioned, was spoken of in all the newspapers of the day as an achievement of importance.