_[Paris] Jan. 30 [1795]._
From the purport of your last letters, I should suppose that this will
scarcely reach you; and I have already written so many letters, that you
have either not received, or neglected to acknowledge, I do not find it
pleasant, or rather I have no inclination, to go over the same ground
again. If you have received them, and are still detained by new projects,
it is useless for me to say any more on the subject. I have done with it
for ever; yet I ought to remind you that your pecuniary interest suffers
by your absence.
* * * * *
For my part, my head is turned giddy, by only hearing of plans to make
money, and my contemptuous feelings have sometimes burst out. I therefore
was glad that a violent cold gave me a pretext to stay at home, lest I
should have uttered unseasonable truths.
My child is well, and the spring will perhaps restore me to myself.--I
have endured many inconveniences this winter, which should I be ashamed to
mention, if they had been unavoidable. "The secondary pleasures of life,"
you say, "are very necessary to my comfort:" it may be so; but I have ever
considered them as secondary. If therefore you accuse me of wanting the
resolution necessary to bear the _common_[10] evils of life; I should
answer, that I have not fashioned my mind to sustain them, because I would
avoid them, cost what it would----
Adieu!