"حياة ومراسلات اللواء السير جون مالكوم، قائد فرسان وسام الطُهر، المبعوث السابق إلى بلاد فارس وحاكم بومباي؛ من رسائل ومذكرات غير منشورة. في مجلّدين. المجلد II." [‎٧‎٠] (٦٥٤/٨٧)

70
AN INTERVAL OF EEST.
The voyage home was not distinguished by any notice
able incidents with which I am acquainted, save one of a
very painful character. At St. Helena, Malcolm was met
by intelligence of the death of his venerable mother.
She sank to rest at Burnfoot on the 9th of November,
1811. It was not an event out of the ordinary course;
but Malcolm did not, on that account, feel the blow less
keenly. A man who has been many years absent from
home can anticipate no greater pleasure than that of in
troducing his wife and children to a beloved parent, wlio
is longing to welcome them with the outstretched arms
of eager affection. Three years before, Malcolm had
written to his wife, " What a woman is my dear mother!
The nearest wish to my heart is that she should live to
embrace you, and to clasp her grandchild, little Margaret,
to her heart. John would look on satisfied with being
third on the list for a maternal embrace. With what
joy do I look forward to that happy day. But when
will it come ?"* It was never to come. All these fond
hopes were shattered in a moment by the sad tidings
which reached him at St. Helena. It was a bitter dis
appointment. Such hopes and such disappointments
are but the common lot of the Indian exile. It is the
penalty he pays for turning his back on his native
land.
He reached home in the course of July; and soon
afterwards took a country-house (Claramont) near Ches-
hunt, in Hertfordshire. There he located his family, and
then began to think of visiting his friends. He had
every reason to be satisfied with his reception by men in
authority. In the summer of this year, the murder of
Mr. Percival had been followed by extensive changes in
the Ministry. Lord Wellesley, who had been Foreign
* Vol. i. page 430.