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7 Nov 1799 [added in pencil]

Dear & Kind Friend

By M:^rs Lushington's letter from you which I saw yesterday evening, I am concerned to find that you have been under some anxiety at Not having heard from me & indeed I am convinced that my conduct would be really criminal in giving any addition to the affliction under which You have laboured so long & therefore I should have written to You imediately after M:^r Meyer's visit, if I had not understood, that he intended to send the result of his Message & I really thought one letter to you upon so Melancholy a Subject would be better than two however, as it is necessary I shall repeat what I said to M:^r Meyer, in Case of that Melancholy event which may be dreaded I will make the Cast I promised, but with respect to any visit to Sussex at present it is totally impossible for me, not only on account of the necessity of My constant labour on which I am doing but also because several of the things under hand cannot be left

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