SICKNESS ANT DEPRESSION. 83 



persons especially are haunted by nervous apprehensions, 

 which, could they only summon courage to consult the com- 

 petent authorities, would be instantly dispelled ; and in a 

 world where all our strength is needed for the real struggle, 

 it is a pity to have any portion of our energies swallowed 

 up in curable anxieties or chimerical forebodings. 



Betwixt invalid depression and the uncertainty of his 

 plans and prosjjects, the interval which followed his 

 twenty-fourth year was one of much inward sadness. He 

 had not yet the blessed hope which afterwards upbore him 

 beneath graver burdens ; and though manly pride helped 

 to sustain his infirmity in the presence of others, and the 

 social instinct enabled him occasionally to forget it, the 

 load at his heart was heavy. 



As the best preservative from the consumptive ten- 

 dency detected in his chest, he was advised to spend a 

 winter in Italy. His two unmarried sisters accompanied 

 him, and the change proved to some extent beneficial. But 

 it needed more than the witchery of Italian skies and 

 southern breezes to chase away the evil spirit of melan- 

 choly ; and the following record will shew that it was a 

 very dull departure : — 



" Left Edinburgh on the morning of Tuesday, August 2, 

 1820, with every degree of disinclination for the journey. 

 From some perversity of mind, all my former feelings in 

 regard to an Italian tour had suffered a complete reversal ; 



