n seriously ill with bilious fever,
from the effects of which she recovered but slowly. In late autumn she
once more went to London to pass the winter with her sister. It was to
be her last visit. She enjoyed it with all the freshness of youth,
sight-seeing and visiting without fatigue, even attending an opening of
Parliament, which she protested had not tired her more than if she had
been eighteen. Her prayer and hope was, as it had been her father's,
that her body might not survive her mind, and that she might leave a
tender and not unpleasing recollection of herself in the hearts of her
friends. Her letters certainly showed no falling-off in power, as is
amply proved by one written during this visit to her Boston friends:--

LONDON, 1 North Audley street,}
Grosvenor square, January 1, 1844.}

MY DEAR FRIENDS MR. AND MRS. TICKNOR:

I cannot begin this new year better, or more to my own heartfelt
satisfaction, than by greeting you with my best wishes for many,
many happy years to you of your domestic felicity and public
estimation--_estimation_ superior to celebrity, you know, Mr.
Ticknor, disdaining _notoriety_, which all low minds run after and
all high minds despise. How I see this every day in this London
world, and _hear_ it from all other worlds--loudly from your New
World across the great Atlantic, where those who make their boast
of independence and equality are struggling and quarreling for
petty preeminence and "vile trash."

I have been here with my sister, Mrs. Wilson, in a peaceful, happy
home these six weeks, and the rattle of Grosvenor square, at the
corner of which her house is, never disturbs the quiet of her
little library, which is at the back of the house, and looks out
upon gardens and trees (such as they are!)....

Among the pleasantest days I have enjoyed in London society, among
friends of old standing and acquaintance of distinguished talents,
I spent two days at my very good old friend Dr. Holland's, where I
heard your name and your letter to your countrymen on Sydney
Smith's memorial spoken of in the highest terms of just estimation!
You know that Dr. Holland is married to Sydney Smith's daughter. I
hope you know Dr. Holland's book, _Medical Notes_, which, though
the title might seem exclusively professional, is full of such
genera