“Had I not forgotten the place of Dr Parr’s residence, you would have
received the ‘Lamentations of Jeremiah’
from me. You would have heard how I fell from a slip ladder, and broke it
fairly in two; how, with difficulty, I kept what your friend at Hatton calls
soul and body together; how I endeavoured to overcome the extreme pain, but at
last was obliged, partly by entreaty
| 150 | WILLIAM GODWIN |
“The gout has not yet left me, though I carry it about in a very clandestine kind of a manner; and till it has disappeared, I am advised not to bathe again; being further advised that bathing would be very good for me. Hence you will perceive I have not escaped that Tyrant Necessity—(if you can tell me when I shall, pray send me the intelligence by express, I will venture the expense)—and that the Necessity of which I am now the slave is uncertainty.
“I have had occasion to talk of you, or rather of your
essence, your ‘Political
Justice,’ and your ‘Caleb.’ If you suppose I understand
you, I need not tell you in what terms I spoke. I sometimes doubt whether it be
right, i.e., necessary, to declare sentiments of
personal affection; yet I still seem more strongly to doubt whether it be right
totally to omit such declarations; for impossible as it is that men should
perceive utility, or if you will virtue,
| HOLCROFT AND COOPER. | 151 |
“I hope you have renewed your visits in Newman Street. As this letter will perhaps be a more circumstantial narrative of my late disaster than any they have yet received, be kind enough to communicate the contents at home.
“Mr Cooper, partly in consequence of my desire, and partly, as I suppose, from the decisions of his own judgment, remains near me some time to pursue his studies. I wish, perhaps more than a wise man ought, to be at home. Whether this impulse, or the hope of re-establishing my health shall prevail, must be left to future circumstances: my return, however, cannot be very distant.
“How came I to omit saying that you have a few warm admirers here, and that the report of your second edition has committed homicide upon the first? In my opinion, should the publishing be delayed, both will be injured.”
