253 



united in a fluid, heated about twenty degrees above the blood of 

 man in an ordinary healthy state ; and with respect to the heat, 

 the earth, and the salt, are exactly the contents of the Bath 

 waters. 



" I had the pleasure of receiving your last letter 

 from Goa, and embrace the only opportunity that will now occur, 

 of writing a few lines before you finally leave India, by the vessel 

 which conveys the General Elliot's dispatches. Most sensibly, my 

 valuable friend, do I feel the truth of all you said in your affec- 

 tionate sheet. Absence and death alone reveal to us those feel- 

 ings which only transiently affect us when present with the object 

 of our esteem of love. I now find that a long intimacy and strict 

 acquaintance with the virtues and qualities of any person, leaves 

 a very sensible and lasting impression on the mind. We are 

 formed (at least the valuable part of mankind) for the enjoyment 

 of friendship and mutual benevolence; nor are there any senti- 

 ments more truly noble, generous, and elevating, than these. Hu- 

 man nature, unfortunately, admits not, or very rarely, of too close 

 a connection. The seeds of petulance, pride, folly, and caprice, 

 are sown even in the most liberal and exalted breasts, with a lavish 

 hand ; and we are too apt, when continually together, to find some 

 occasions of vexation and disgust; but in absence it is just the 

 reverse: we view our friend at a distance with other eyes; his 

 faults are no more remembered, while we amplify or enlarge his 

 amiable and elegant qualifications. We eagerly seize the only 

 medium of communication which now remains, and think we 

 never can sufficiently express in letters the warm affection which 



