In passing through life, my dear friend, everyone must expect to receive lessons, both in the school of prosperity and in that of adversity; and, taken in a general sense, these schools do not only include riches and poverty, but everything that may cause the happiness and pleasure of man, and every feeling that may give him pain. I have been in at the door of both these schools; nor am I so far on the right hand at present that I do not get hurt by the thorns on my left. With respect to myself, I have always perceived (when, after a time, I saw things more clearly) that those things which at first appeared as misfortunes or evils ultimately were actually benefits, and productive of much good in the future progress of things. Sometimes I compared them to storms and tempests, which cause a temporary disarrangement to produce permanent good; sometimes they appeared to me like roads--stony, uneven, hilly, and uncomfortable, it is true--but the only roads to a good beyond them; and sometimes I said they were clouds which intervened between me and the sun of prosperity, but which I found were refreshing, reserving to me that tone and vigour of mind which prosperity alone would enervate and ultimately destroy.... [Sidenote: HINTS OF DISCOMFORT.] You talk of travelling, and I own the word is seducing, but travelling does not secure you from uneasy circumstances. I by no means intend to deter you from it; for though I should like to find you at home when I come home, and though I know how much the loss would be felt by our friends, yet I am aware that the fund of knowledge and of entertainment opened would be almost infinite. But I shall set down a few of my own thoughts and feelings, &c., in the same circumstances. In the first place, then, my dear B., I fancy that when I set my foot in England I shall never take it out again; for I find the prospect so different from what it at first appeared to be, that I am certain, if I could have foreseen the things that have passed, I should never have left London. In the second place, enticing as travelling is--and I appreciate fully its advantages and pleasures--I have several times been more than half decided to return hastily home; but second thoughts have still induced me to try what the future may produce, and now I am only retained by the wish of improvement. I have learned just enough to perceive my ignorance, and, ashamed of my defects in everything, I wish to seize the opportunity of remedying them. The little knowledge I have gained in languages makes me wish to know more of them, and the little I have seen of men and manners is just enough to make me desirous of seeing more; added to which, the glorious opportunity I enjoy of improving in the knowledge of chemistry and the sciences