it was the scarlet fever.


On the 30th she adds:--


This morning I had particular pleasure in reading the favourable
report you sent your father of George Vernon. I now trust he will be
restored to his afflicted parents, and great as is their loss they
will have much cause for thankfulness to Providence when they reflect
how near they were losing both their valuable sons. I hear that the
Bishop and Lady Anne are wonderfully composed.


But the sinister note with which the year had dawned was unexpectedly
accentuated. In February she writes:--


What a moment is the present! Every hour brings report of death. In
addition to our great National losses is now the death of Lord
Cornwallis--a man who was a blessing and ornament to his country.
Awful and critical is the present period. Woronzow, the Russian
Minister, is likewise dead. He is brother to the Woronzow who is
Ambassador here. [29]

In our Peerage there are also great changes, Lord Coventry, Lord
Somers, and it is said, Lord Uxbridge, are _all_ dead.


_Friday._