Alas, that the friend of my youth is gone! Alas, that I ever knew
her! I might say to myself, "You are a dreamer to seek what is
not to be found here below." But she has been mine. I have
possessed that heart, that noble soul, in whose presence I seemed
to be more than I really was, because I was all that I could be.
Good heavens! did then a single power of my soul remain unexercised?
In her presence could I not display, to its full extent, that
mysterious feeling with which my heart embraces nature? Was not
our intercourse a perpetual web of the finest emotions, of the
keenest wit, the varieties of which, even in their very eccentricity,
bore the stamp of genius? Alas! the few years by which she was
my senior brought her to the grave before me. Never can I forget
her firm mind or her heavenly patience.

A few days ago I met a certain young V--, a frank, open fellow,
with a most pleasing countenance. He has just left the university,
does not deem himself overwise, but believes he knows more than
other people. He has worked hard, as I can perceive from many
circumstances, and, in short, possesses a large stock of information.
When he heard that I am drawing a good deal, and that I know Greek
(two wonderful things for this part of the country), he came to
see me, and displayed his whole store of learning, from Batteaux
to Wood, from De Piles to Winkelmann: he assured me he had read
through the first part of Sultzer's theory, and also possessed a
manuscript of Heyne's work on the study of the antique. I allowed
it all to pass.

I have become acquainted, also, with a very worthy person, the
district judge, a frank and open-hearted man. I am told it is a
most delightful thing to see him in the midst of his children, of