I regret to find that my first to you miscarried, and by comparing dates I think that it must have been lost in the wreck of the brig Flora, which was lost in a tempest on her way to Holland a few days after I wrote.

This being so, you are ignorant of the changes which have taken place here, and which affect yourself in no slight degree.
"The match between your lady mother and Sir William Brownlow is broken off.

This took place just after you sailed for the wars.

It was brought about by our friend, Monsieur Dessin.

This gentleman--who is, although I know not his name, a French nobleman of title and distinction--received, about the time you left, the news that he might shortly expect to hear that the decree which had sent him into exile was reversed.