. . . I am fearful to boast, lest I should lose what I boast of: but I
think I have achieved a victory over my evil spirits here: for they have
full opportunity to come, and I often observe their approaches, but
hitherto I have managed to keep them off. Lord Bacon's Essay on
Friendship is wonderful for its truth: and I often feel its truth. He
says that with a Friend 'a man _tosseth_ his thoughts,' an admirable
saying, which one can understand, but not express otherwise. But I feel
that, being alone, one's thoughts and feelings, from want of
communication, become heaped up and clotted together, as it were: and so
lie like undigested food heavy upon the mind: but with a friend one
_tosseth_ them about, so that the air gets between them, and keeps them
fresh and sweet. I know not from what metaphor Bacon took his 'tosseth,'
but it seems to me as if it was from the way haymakers toss hay, so that
it does not press into a heavy lump, but is tossed about in the air, and
separated, and thus kept sweet. . . .
Your most affectionate friend,