To Rev! Mr T
Sir
As Lady day is approaching I must trouble you with a few lines to know who I am to pay your 1/2 years rent to, & likewise delivering up the keys at the same time. I suppose the receipt must be in full of all demands, you may have your house at old or new Lady-day, whichever is most agreable to you. The stable of course is to be given up with the house, Hewington wants to keep them till the Gentleman is ready for them, but as they are yours I cannot say any thing till I hear from you, which I hope will be soon from Sir
Yr ‘[illeg]’
M.S.
Twickenham March.6.1790.
(True copy) ‘underlined’

Colchester March.8 1790
Dear Brother,
It would be cruel to rob you of so great a pleasure as you must have in corresponding with Mr Shackaly; especially as the correspondence is now so near its end. I received the above yesterday. Why will the simple woman write to me, when she knows you are kind enough to be my agent in this business - my ‘[illeg]’ - my self upon the spot? ‘underlined’ She must forsooth, have a letter from me: her she shall not. She has behaved shabbily &, as I live, I will not be enquired of “by her”. Another very good reason is, that you know what to answer, and I do not, and so, you will be so good as to answer her for me. She knows I have left the whole matter to you. What a shallow monster of a Lady it is! -
- But, how shall I get off with you. - I said, in my last, I would write again soon: & I have not ‘underlined’ written again soon. - I am a scoundrel; & no wonder, - for I have not

been well; and according to Dr Johnson, you know, every man is a scoundrel when he is not well. Not that I have been ill ‘underlined’ but according to the fashionable phrase unwell. ‘underlined’ I am an unfortunate man. I boasted, I think, in my last letter, that my cough was entirely gone. Whether that boast affronted the Demon of Colds, or not, I cannot tell; but within a day or two, another ‘underlined’ cold seized me, from which I am now but just beginning to be released. However, it was not a cough-cold, thank God, but only head-and-nose cold - a snot cold, a pocket handkerchief cold: & I think the worst & most obstinate I was ever plagued with. I might have sold my head to a carpenter for an inexhaustible glue-pot as for my nostrils - “id ‘[illeg Latin]’. And the obstruction was so invincible, & lasted so long, that I really thought my poor nose was reduced to a mere cul-de-sac ‘underlined’, for the rest of my life. I hope Dr ‘[?Neve]’ has never such colds as this - within this day or two, however a thaw is come on:-.wish I had a ‘[?frank]’ that I might send you a specimen ‘vestibule>]’ & neat little green gob would look very well set in a wing, & would do as well to ‘[?urea]’, hereafter, for my sake, as a lock of hair, L

‘It’s well I can be thus facetious; for I ‘[?assure]’ you, I have been very good for nothing, & low spirited for near this fortnight. It would have been more to the purpose to tell you about poor ‘[?Dr F]’ He mended after I wrote to you, but is still very uncomfortable; her ‘[illeg]’ terrible nights, but is more cheerful in the day, this