plied!)
_upon_ me, instead of that you have. We have never been able to alter
this determination of his, and therefore, as he will not take his money,
he should have his picture back. So, Harriet, dear, pack me up, and send
me to Messrs. Harrison and Latham, Liverpool; and as soon as Sully
returns from England, where he now is, you shall have another and, if
possible, a better likeness of me; though I do not feel very sanguine
about it, for Sully's characteristic is delicacy rather than power, and
mine may not be power, but certainly is not delicacy....

Alas! my dear Harriet, the little stone-pine [a seedling planted by my
friend from a pine-cone she brought from Italy], in one of our stormy
nights at sea, was dislodged from its place of security and thrown out
of the pot with all the mould. I watched its decay with extreme regret,
and even fell into some morbid and superstitious fancies about it; but I
could still cry to think that what would have been such a source of
pleasure to dear Emily, and might have prospered so well with her, was
thus unavailingly bestowed upon me. It made quite a sore place in my
heart....

God bless you, dear.

I am ever affectionately yours,
F. A. B.

PHILADELPHIA, February 6th, 1838.
MY DEAREST HARRIET,

The box and two letters arrived safely about a week ago. I read over my
old journal: this returning again into the midst of old events and
feelings, affected my spirits at first a good deal.... Of course this
passed off, and it afforded me much amusement to look over these
archives, ancient as they now almost appear to me.... It surely is
wisdom most difficult of attainment, to form a correct estimate of
things or people while we are under their immediate influence: the just
value of character, the precise importance of events, or the true
estimate of joy and sorrow, while one is subject to their action and
pressure. I suppose, with my quick and excitable feelings, I shall never
attain even so much of this moral power of comparison and just
appreciation as others may; but it cannot be easy to anybody....
Habitual accuracy of thought and moderation of feeling, of course, will
help one to conjecture how our present will look when it has become
past; but the mind that is able to do this must be naturally just, and
habitually trained to justice. With the