Comte Bothmar has got the small-pox, and of a bad kind. Kniphausen
diverts himself much here; he sees all places and all people, and is
ubiquity itself. Mitchel, who was much threatened, stays at last at
Berlin, at the earnest request of the King of Prussia. Lady is safely
delivered of a son, to the great joy of that noble family. The
expression, of a woman's having brought her husband a son, seems to be a
proper and cautious one; for it is never said from whence.

I was going to ask you how you passed your time now at Hamburg, since it
is no longer the seat of strangers and of business; but I will not,
because I know it is to no purpose. You have sworn not to tell me.

Sir William Stanhope told me that you promised to send him some Old Hock
from Hamburg, and so you did not. If you meet with any superlatively
good, and not else, pray send over a 'foudre' of it, and write to him. I
shall have a share in it. But unless you find some, either at Hamburg or
at Bremen, uncommonly and almost miracuously good, do not send any. Dixi.
Yours.




LETTER CCXXIII

BLACKHEATH, June 13, 1758.

MY DEAR FRIEND: The secret is out: St. Malo is the devoted place. Our
troops began to land at the Bay of Cancale the 5th, without any
opposition. We have no further accounts yet, but expect some every
moment. By the plan of it, which I have seen, it is by no means a weak