ABSTRACT
I sincerely rejoice, my dear Dubois, that I am recalled to Malta. However pleasing the society I am in, would be to a mind at ease, the particular feelings of mine make it, if I may so call it, a very painful enjoyment. You endeavour to persuade me to throw aside this boyish passion, as you term it. The advice, I own, is salutary; but the difficulty is in the execution; a difficulty of which you can be no judge, having never felt what you think so easily cured. Indeed, if you had, you would be convinced it does not at all depend on the will. The heart is no longer master of its desires, but is subject to an idol, 82 without being able to form a wish for liberty.
