no Company and Solitude 



a thoughtful man. See to it that you are 

 a merry monarch, and your happiness is 

 assured. 



There is no one beside myself in this 

 small room, and we are given to selecting 

 the most prominent objects when in search 

 of subject-matter for book or essay, and both 

 would often be the better were the minor 

 matters more in evidence. The hero, how- 

 ever great, must have ground to stand upon ; 

 but this is often forgotten, and characters 

 come and go in the printed pages as if such 

 a little matter as the world at large was of 

 no importance whatever. But to-night I 

 am alone, and choose myself in preference 

 to others, if I find anything to say. I do 

 not objeft. That ninth letter of the alpha- 

 bet always appealed very strongly to me. 

 It is like a cherished personal possession, 

 and whatever may be my occupation at the 

 time, or wherever I happen to be, this same 

 blessed / is the most prominent feature of 

 place or circumstance. Whether or not any- 

 thing to you r I am everything to myself. 

 The ninth letter and the writer are nearer 

 than twins, we are one, and never was 

 there a closer relationship or one that was 



