Your thought, if love must harbour there, Conceal it in that thought, Nor cause me from my bosom tear The very friend I sought. [Footnote 63: Probably Mr. Nicol, who lived in Buccleuch Pend, a short distance from Clarinda's residence.] * * * * * VII. _Saturday Noon_ [_5th January_]. Some days, some nights, nay, some _hours_, like the "ten righteous persons in Sodom," save the rest of the vapid, tiresome, miserable months and years of life. One of these hours my dear Clarinda blest me with yesternight. One well-spent hour, In such a tender circumstance for friends, Is better than an age of common time! THOMSON. My favourite feature in Milton's Satan is his manly fortitude in supporting what cannot be remedied--in short, the wild broken fragments of a noble exalted mind in ruins. I meant no more by saying he was a favourite hero of mine. I mentioned to you my letter to Dr. Moore, giving an account of my life: it is truth, every word of it; and will give you a just idea of the man whom you have honoured with your friendship. I am afraid you will hardly be able to make sense of so torn a piece. Your verses I shall muse on, deliciously, as I gaze on your image in my mind's eye, in my heart's core: they will be in time enough for a week to come. I am truly happy your headache is better. O, how can pain or evil be so daringly unfeeling, cruelly savage, as to wound so noble a mind, so lovely a form! My little fellow is all my namesake. Write me soon. My every, strongest good wishes attend you, Clarinda! SYLVANDER. I know not what I have written--I am pestered with people around me. * * * * VIII. _Jan. 8, 1788, Tuesday Night._