174 MEMOIR OF GEORGE WILSON. CHAP. IV. 



got the long letter first, and not anticipated another very soon 

 after, the brief note and the verses (written during Christmas) 

 would have borne some value, instead of coming as a mockery 

 and a disappointment. And we seem destined to as long and 

 as provoking a delay as you were, for no tidings have reached 

 us of the books, and how or when we shall get them I don't 

 know ; but do not say anything about it it is the stormy wea- 

 ther and nobody that's to blame. I'll be in the City on Mon- 

 day, and shall learn about it then, I have no doubt. Meanwhile, 

 although neither you nor I have read (I have not) the Queen's 

 Speech, and are not much given to political speculations or 

 anticipations, I am sure we shall heartily agree that far above 

 universal suffrage, vote by ballot, negro slaves, or factory chil- 

 dren bills, is the Post- Office Eeform, which would enable us, at 

 the come-at-able price of a penny, to write as much sense, non- 

 sense, or love, as we felt in our hearts wearying to get utter- 

 ance. . . . 



" My love to all I love, and all who love me, Irnp though I 

 am (a very bottle-imp, as you know, when you think of the 

 pennies you now save, by lacking the temptation to buy queer 

 vials for your alchemical son,) Imp, I say, though I am, I have, 

 I know, some affectionate and most dearly-loving friends, who 

 think of me far above my deserts, and forget the cloven hoof ; 

 and to all these remember me kindly. I am not about to 

 chronicle their names in rank and file, like the debtors and 

 creditors in the merchant's day (or some other of his, to me, 

 mysterious) books, or a Serjeant's list of militia recruits, or an 

 apothecary's list of his simples ; but I will speak of them as a 

 chemist, and say, all that answer to the test of thinking, asking, 

 or wishing well of me, are my friends and beloved of me. . . . 

 For my own part, I am now very busy ; the class is only every 

 second day, but it includes thirty-four students ; and so large 

 a practical class involves a great deal of trouble. I work at it 

 every day from nine till five, and sometimes till six or seven ; 

 and I have sometimes had to spend my dinner hour in the 

 Laboratory. All analysis or personal improvement is at an end 

 quite at an end. My health and spirits are quite good, but 

 my daily occupations are uninteresting, and I never get a walk, 



