ABSTRACT
At Oxford I had few acquaintances: my habits were never of a sociable turn. But I had some. Human nature is so constituted, that, till the propensity is cured, as mine has been, man naturally seeks the society of his like. I found a young man of a cast of mind similar to my own. His thoughts were all gloomy; his countenance was perpetually sad. Some persons are said to love by contrast; the melancholy to associate with the merry, and the fantastic with the severe; and thus to find mutual comfort and relief. But we loved by sympathy. We spent whole evenings / together in silence: but, if thus we did not amuse each other, at least we had a mutual understanding, and did not the one torment the other by ill-applied attentions and civilities. We found a social pleasure in looking in each other’s faces, and silently whispering to our own hearts, Thank God, I have a companion, that hates the world as much as I do!
