_Life_, by Dr. Davy, vol. ii. p.
72),--and it was, if the account be correct, a most
extraordinary one, for it connected the fall of the
house of Seaforth not only with the appearance of a deaf
_Caberfae_, but with the contemporaneous appearance of
various different physical misfortunes in several of the
other great Highland chiefs; all of which are said--and
were certainly believed both by Scott and Davy--to have
actually occurred within the memory of the generation
that has not yet passed away. Mr. Morritt can testify
thus far--that he "heard the prophecy quoted in the
Highlands at a time when Lord Seaforth had two sons both
alive and in good health--so that it certainly was not
made _apres coup_." [Mrs. Stewart-Mackenzie died at
Brahan Castle in 1862, in her 79th year. "Her funeral
was one of the largest ever witnessed in the North." The
Seaforth estates passed to the eldest of her three
sons.]]
I am delighted to find Mrs. Morritt is recovering health and
strength--better walking on the beach at Worthing than on
the _plainstanes_ of Prince's Street, for the weather is
very severe here indeed. I trust Mrs. M. will, in her milder
climate, lay in such a stock of health and strength as may
enable you to face the north in Autumn. I have got the
nicest crib for you possible, just about twelve feet square,
and in the harmonious vicinity of a piggery. You never saw
so minute an establishment,--but {p.015} it has all that we
wish for, and all our friends will care about; and we long
to see you there. Charlotte sends the kindest remembrances
to Mrs. Morritt.
As for politics, I have thought little about them lately;
the high and exciting interest is so completely subsided,
that the wine is upon the lees. As for America, we have so
managed as to give her the appearance of triumph, and what
is worse, encouragement to resume the war upon a more
favorable opportunity. It was our business to have given
them a fearful memento that the babe unborn should have
remembered; but, having missed this opportunity, I believe
that this country would submit with great reluctance to
continue a war
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