LETTER LV.
August 4.
I AM not alone unfortunate; men are all disappointed in their
hopes, and all their schemes fall to the ground. I have been to
see the good woman under the lime-trees. The eldest boy ran out
to meet me; he screamed for joy, and that brought out his mother.
She looked very melan- {146} choly. "Alas! my good Sir," said
she, "our poor little Jenny is dead; (that was the youngest of
her children.) I answered nothing -- "And my husband," she
continued, "came back from Holland without any money; he was
taken ill with a fever; and if some good people had not relieved
him, he must have been obliged to beg his bread along the road."
I could say nothing to her: I gave some money to the boy; and she
offered me some apples, which I accepted, and full of sorrow left
the place.
