There is something to me very softening in the presence of a woman,—some strange influence, even if one is not in love with them—which I cannot at all account for, having no very high opinion of the sex. But yet,—I always feel in better humour with myself and every thing else, if there is a woman within ken.
Mrs. Mule
, my firelighter,—the most ancient and withered of her kind,—and (except to myself) not the best-tempered—always makes me laugh,—no difficult task when I am "i' the vein."
Heigho! I would I were in mine island!—I am not well; and yet I look in good health. At
, I fear, "I am not in my perfect mind;"
—and yet my heart and head have stood many a crash, and what should ail them now?