Jane Barnard to Henry Bence Jones   October 1866¹

[Royal Institution embossed letterhead] | Friday Night

My dear Dr Bence Jones

Your note has filled us all with such deep grief that I cannot refrain from writing a few lines before I go to rest, for I fear that I may have seemed wanting in sympathy, but it was far from our feelings, for your health, & your kind & affectionate attentions are continually in our minds & mouths.

We feel a great blank here in the house without you & at first I felt that it could hardly be a home to us again, all seems so changed. My dear Uncle opened & pondered over your letter for some time & sends you his love & sympathy. That you may be comforted under your troubles as he is, is our most earnest desire. We comfort ourselves in hoping that you have formed too serious an estimate of your state of health, though these relapses are most depressing to the spirit.

Believe me dear Dr Jones it was not a selfish engrossment in our own anxieties that made me write in the tone I did last night.

I am with much affection | Yours most sincerely | Jane Barnard

Dr Bence Jones