HONOURED SIR,--I have purposely delayed writing in the hope that I
should have the pleasure of seeing you on New Year's day; but work comes
so hard upon us that I do not choose to be absent on that account, as
well as for some other little reasons which I shall tell you at meeting.
My health is nearly the same as when you were here, only my sleep is a
little sounder, and on the whole I am rather better than otherwise,
though I mend by very slow degrees. The weakness of my nerves has so
debilitated my mind that I dare neither review my past wants nor look
forward into futurity; for the least anxiety or perturbation in my
breast produces most unhappy effects on my whole frame. Sometimes,
indeed, when for an hour or two my spirits are a little lightened, I
glimmer a little into futurity; but my principal, and indeed my only
pleasurable, employment, is looking backwards and forwards in a moral
and religious way; I am quite transported at the thought, that ere long,
perhaps very soon, I shall bid an eternal adieu to all the pains, and
uneasiness, and disquietudes of this weary life; for I assure you I am
heartily tired of it; and, if I do not very much deceive myself, I could
contentedly and gladly resign it.

The soul, uneasy, and confin'd at home,
Rests and expatiates in a life to come.

It is for this reason I am more pleased with the 15th, 16th, and 17th
verses of the 7th chapter of Revelation[2] than with any ten times as
many verses in the whole Bible, and would not exchange the whole noble
enthusiasm with which they inspire me, for all that this world has to
offer. As for this world, I despair of ever making a figure in it I am
not formed for the bustle of the busy, nor the flutter of the gay. I
shall never again be capable of entering into such scenes. Indeed, I am
altogether unconcerned at the thoughts of this life. I foresee that