I think
I had better write to Lord Sandwich to thank him, as I cannot now
wait upon him--for my visitations must be very private--and ask
him if he has any orders for me. Do tell me what I must do on that
head, and if you would have me wait on you ere I depart, &c., &c.,
and believe me in prosperity or adversity.
"Yours, &c.,
"CHAS. CLERKE."
This is followed by another, written on the evening of the same day, in
which he says:--
"I this day received a letter from Lord Sandwich, acquainting me
he shall certainly order the _Discovery_ to sea very soon, in
short giving me to understand that if I cannot leave town by the
10th or 11th instant I must give up all. Now, that completes the
wretchedness of my situation. I find the Jews are exasperated and
determined to spare no pains to arrest me if they could once catch
me out of the rules of the Bench; this, you know, would be
striking the finishing stroke. Let me, my good friend, entreat the
influence of your friendship here. I shall certainly be cleared
the 16th or 18th instant, and shall then be happy."
He got away all right, and on November 23rd, 1776, wrote from the Cape of
Good Hope:--
"Here I am hard and fast moor'd alongside my old friend Capt'n
Cook, so that our battles with the Israelites cannot now have any
ill effects upon our intending attack upon the North Pole.
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