as far as it dared, that the verdict of the jury was not a conscientious one.' This letter of the missionary was quoted in the papers on the following day, when it was also stated, 'that the wife had been poisoned out of vindictive feelings to the husband.' The suppression of the depositions taken at the inquest could only confirm such insinuations, and the authentic documents were published in the 'Courier,' by my desire, accompanied solely by the request that Dr. Thomson, my sister's valued friend, might be exonerated from all blame.
"For several days the press teemed with reports and conjectures more or less distressing, and we were alternately distracted by insinuations that she was poisoned or had destroyed herself. Several of her private letters appeared in the papers, but in no single instance, with the consent or knowledge of her family; on the contrary, the following paragraph was put forth in the 'Courier,' earnestly deprecating the publication of her letters, and all further comment. And we were grateful when to this request the whole press paid a generous attention:
"'The late Mrs. Maclean.—Those who stood in the nearest and tenderest relationship to this lamented lady have authorized us to make a representation to her friends and acquaintances, that they would forbear at present from making public any communications from her, or any surmises of their own, that can only tend to excite most idle but at the same time most painful speculations as to the circumstances of her death. In the absence of more positive intelligence, this is surely not too much to ask from those who really are, as they assume to be, more anxious for the sacredness of her memory than for the gratification of their own desires to pay homage to it. Such only were worthy of her friendship; and all who were so worthy will shrink from the awful responsibility of strengthening or extending surmises, that result from excited feelings more than cool judgment or acquaintance with facts.'
"The paragraph went on to represent her cheer-
