32 MEMOIR OF 



to suspend his lectures. In the following January, 1829, 

 he speaks to the same gentleman, of his situation and 

 labours, in these affecting words 



" My excessive exertion, and the exposure to a dread- 

 ful climate destroyed me. My lungs became diseased, 

 and last winter, I was threatened with so rapid a decline 

 as to force me to escape from the climate of New York, 

 by going to the West Indies. The months of February, 

 March, and April, my wife and I spent in the Danish 

 Island of Santa Cruz, where I very nearly perished from 

 my disease, though I certainly should have done so in 

 New York. On my return to Philadelphia, in May, I 

 took a house in Germantown, within seven miles from 

 the city, where I have since resided. During the warm 

 weather I was able to creep about, but since the first of 

 the fall have been confined to a single room. My health 

 during all this time has been in a very wretched state, 

 and my consumption very obvious indeed, for I wasted to 

 bones and lost all my strength. Until the last three 

 weeks past, I was exceedingly low, unable to sit up, eat, 

 or perform any function advantageously. Since the time 

 mentioned I have greatly recovered in all respects. My 

 cough is by no means troublesome, and I eat and sleep 

 well. What is best of all is that I have never had hectic 

 since leaving New York, where I was not properly pre- 

 scribed for. Notwithstanding all thess drawbacks, I 

 have had my family to support, and have done so merely 

 by my pen. This you may suppose severe enough for 



