Autograph letter signed : Bath, to James Burney, 1817 December 25.

Wishing James and his family a Merry Christmas; writing that she approves of his intent to petition the Admiralty for redress of his grievances (he had not been employed by the Navy nor received a promotion for many years, despite repeated applications); adding that she would like to hear his whole story "to qualify me to speak upon the matter -- if I can find or make opportunity"; adding that she thinks a letter from Earl St. Viscount (John Jervis, former First Lord of the Admiralty) in support of James will greatly help his case; describing the state of their sister Charlotte, whose teenage son Ralph had died earlier in the year: "She bore up at first too well; unnaturally well; she seemed at times in a sort of stupor -- but it was only of shut up, not extinguished feelings. Poor Soul! Ralph was a most promising youth, & is a bitter loss to his fond Mother -- though she nursed & attended him almost to her own annihilation, so inconsiderately did he refuse all assistance but through her hands. The selfishness of that is now forgotten, & its tenderness of partiality alone remembered"; writing of her concerns about her son Alex, who was preparing to take his degree; describing her husband's ongoing medical problems: "The Jaundice has never been completely cured, & it has left behind it disorders & sufferings the most insupportable to him. We are quite shut up, save for walks of health: & neither make nor receive visits"; mentioning that she has had several audiences with Queen Charlotte during the royal party's stay in Bath; adding that Monsieur d'Arblay has been presented to the Queen; recalling her own presentation to Louis XVIII by the Duke of Duras; discussing ways that they might reach the current First Lord of the Admiralty, Lord Melville, including through the Stranges (family friends of the Burneys); recounting an anecdote about accidentally getting into a sedan chair meant for Anne Dundas Strange; telling James that the Queen and the Princess cannot help him with his petition: "[T]hey will never be addressed on any thing that has to do with the Army or Navy. Nor will they meddle with politics. The Church alone has their care & influence. The Church, & Literature, & Morals."