“Long ago I ought to have written to you, but to you
and my other friends, I have as little excuse to offer as an insolvent debtor
can make to his creditors. Of late, indeed, I have waited not so much for a
more convenient season as for better spirits and for better health. I have been
very much out of order in many ways—old infirmities reappeared and
brought others in their train, and I could both see and feel such changes in
myself, as induced a not unreasonable apprehension that my constitution was
breaking up. I have had recourse,
| 366 | LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE | Ætat. 64. |
“I have recovered sufficiently to be in trim for work, though it is hardly to be expected that I should do anything with the same heart and hope as in former days. However, I shall do my best, and endeavour by God’s mercy to take the remaining stage of my journey as cheerily as I can.
“Remember me most kindly to your fireside; and believe me always, my dear Neville,
