274 MEMOIR OF GEORGE WILSON. CHAP. VI. 



rise to an epistle to Maggie ; meanwhile excuse this scrawl, my 

 eyes oblige me to write little." 



"Mayl, 1842. 



" I could not answer your kind note sooner, having been en- 

 gaged for the last week in preparing lectures for a course I 

 began to-day on animal chemistry. I delivered my introduc- 

 tory lecture to a good audience, who were pleased to think 

 highly of it ; and being freed from the burden of it, I can peace- 

 fully write you a few lines. 



" Mary is better than she was when I last wrote, and able to 

 be out of bed some hours daily. She cannot write, or she would 

 tell you how much she was refreshed by your letter ; it is a 

 most difficult thing, as you say, to write to invalids, whose 

 moods are ever changing, without the nature of their change 

 appearing outwardly, or being always susceptible of communi- 

 cation by letter. But I hope we shall see her improve in the 

 course of the summer. For myself, I have not crossed the 

 threshold till to-day for the last three weeks ; I am so lame as 

 to be unable to cross the room without the help of a stout stick, 

 and there is no immediate hope of betterness. The doctors 

 forbid me attempting to walk, and gravely, seriously recommend 

 a crutch, or a wooden leg (the latter not being intended to sup- 

 plant, but to complement the living limb). 



" I am in the best hands, and have certainly improved under 

 the treatment, but it is weary work lying on the sofa when in 

 the house, and still wearier to have to employ a coach (eating a 

 sore hole into my small earnings) whenever I go out. I pay no 

 visits, thinking none of my friends worth a coach fare. And 

 they manifestly rate me at the same value, or they would occa - 

 sionally despatch a vehicle for my worship. 



" I have made a contract with a coachman who carries me up 

 and down at stated hours, and I find all the consolation I can 

 in lying all my length on the cushions, and gazing with a 

 majestic air on the pedestrians broiling in the sun. It's a fine 

 thing a coach, a very fine thing, and I am the only chemist, 

 except the Professor, who can afford one ; and I am inclined to 

 think mine is the handsomer turn-out of the two. Tt is rather 



