ABSTRACT
At length I bethought me of what I believed would be a more effectual remedy. My cardinal calamity was that I was alone. Of all the persons in contact with me, none in truth came near me. They cared not for me; I cared not for them. I saw a pictured world, a multitude of faces that flitted by me, but nothing of reality, nothing that gave impulse and motion to my soul. I resolved that this state of things should cease. I knew that, of all things that bind a / man to the earth on which we dwell, and give him a genuine interest in his kind, there is nothing so sovereign, as the ties of a domestic circle. This thought brought me once again into intercourse with my species. I frequented the assemblies where persons of both sexes meet and communicate with each other. I enquired out the families of such as lived in the best reputation, and were applauded for vivacity, elegance and mutual good-will. The very thought had a salutary effect upon me. I had an object to pursue; and hope sprung up in my bosom.
