LETTER LVII.

July 7.

I could not help feeling extremely mortified last post, at not receiving

a letter from you. My being at —— was but a chance, and you might have

hazarded it; and would a year ago.

I shall not however complain—There are misfortunes so great, as to

silence the usual expressions of sorrow——Believe me, there is such a

thing as a broken heart! There are characters whose very energy prays

upon them; and who, ever inclined to cherish by reflection some passion,

cannot rest satisfied with the common comforts of life. I have

endeavoured to fly from myself, and launched into all the dissipation

possible here, only to feel keener anguish, when alone with my child.

Still, could any thing please me—had not disappointment cut me off from

life, this romantic country, these fine evenings, would interest me.—My

God! can any thing? and am I ever to feel alive to painful

sensations?—But it cannot—it shall not last long.

The post is again arrived; I have sent to seek for letters, only to be

wounded to the soul by a negative. My brain seems on fire. I must go

into the air.

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Memoirs and Posthumous Works of Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, Vol. 1 · 第 77 / 143 题