Aug. 5.
Employment and exercise have been of great service to me; and I have
entirely recovered the strength and activity I lost during the time of
my nursing. I have seldom been in better health; and my mind, though
trembling to the touch of anguish, is calmer—yet still the same. I have,
it is true, enjoyed some tranquillity, and more happiness here, than for
a long—long time past. (I say happiness, for I can give no other
appellation to the exquisite delight this wild country and fine summer
have afforded me.) Still, on examining my heart, I find that it is so
constituted, I cannot live without some particular affection.—I am
afraid not without a passion, and I feel the want of it more in society,
than in solitude——
— — — — —
— — — — —
— — — — —
Writing to you, whenever an affectionate epithet occurs, my eyes fill
with tears, and my trembling hand stops—you may then depend on my
resolution, when with you. If I am doomed to be unhappy, I will confine
my anguish in my own bosom—tenderness, rather than passion, has made me
sometimes overlook delicacy, the same tenderness will in future restrain
me.
God bless you!