"My Dear Brother,--I hasten to inform you of a calamity which, though it
might be looked for in the course of nature, has occasioned deep grief
not only in our family but in this city. This morning, at half-past four
o'clock, our beloved and respected mother, Sophia Alethea Newcome,
expired, at the advanced age of eighty-three years. On the night of
Tuesday-Wednesday, the 12-13th, having been engaged reading and writing
in her library until a late hour, and having dismissed the servants, whom
she never would allow to sit up for her, as well as my brother and his
wife, who always are in the habit of retiring early, Mrs. Newcome
extinguished the lamps, took a bedchamber candle to return to her room,
and must have fallen on the landing, where she was discovered by the
maids, sitting with her head reclining against the balustrades, and
endeavouring to staunch a wound in her forehead, which was bleeding
profusely, having struck in a fall against the stone step of the stair.

"When Mrs. Newcome was found she was speechless, but still sensible, and
medical aid being sent for, she was carried to bed. Mr. Newcome and Lady
Anne both hurried to her apartment, and she knew them, and took the hands
of each, but paralysis had probably ensued in consequence of the shock of
the fall; nor was her voice ever heard, except in inarticulate moanings,
since the hour on the previous evening when she gave them her blessing
and bade them good-night. Thus perished this good and excellent woman,
the truest Christian, the most charitable friend to the poor and needful,
the head of this great house of business, the best and most affectionate
of mothers.

"The contents of her will have long been known to us, and that document
was dated one month after our lamented father's death. Mr. Thomas
Newcome's property being divided equally amongst his three sons, the
property of his second wife naturally devolves upon her own issue, my