_severe_ disappointments; and what is the amount? I long for a
little peace and _independence_! Every obligation we receive from
our fellow-creatures is a new shackle, takes from our native
freedom, and debases the mind, makes us mere earthworms. I am not
fond of grovelling!

I am, Sir, yours, etc.,
MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT.

When she parted from Lady Kingsborough, and the time arrived for
beginning her new life, she thought it best to communicate her prospects
to Everina; but she begged the latter not to mention them to any one
else. She seems for some time to have wished that her family at least
should know nothing of her whereabouts or her occupations.

She wrote from London on the 7th of November to Everina,--

I am, my dear girl, once more thrown on the world. I _have_ left
Lord K.'s, and they return next week to Mitchelstown. I long since
imagined that my departure would be sudden. I have not _seen_ Mrs.
Burgh, but I have informed her of this circumstance, and at the
same time mentioned to her, that I was determined not to see any of
my friends till I am in a way to earn my own subsistence. And to
this determination I _will_ adhere. You can conceive how
disagreeable pity and advice would be at this juncture. I have two
other cogent reasons. Before I go on will you pause, and if, after
deliberating, you will promise not to mention to any one what you
know of my designs, though you may think my requesting you to
conceal them unreasonable, I will trust to your honor, and proceed.
Mr. Johnson, whose uncommon kindness, I believe, has saved me from
despair and vexation I shrink back from, and fear to encounter,
assures me that if I exert my talents in writing, I may support
myself in a comfortable way. I am then going to be the first of a
new genus. I tremble at the attempt; yet if I fail _I_ only suffer;
and should I succeed, my dear girls will ever in sickness have a
home and a refuge, where for a few months in the year they may
forget the cares that disturb the rest. I shall strain every nerve
to obtain a situation for Eliza nearer town: in short, I am once
more involved in schemes. Heaven only knows whether they will
answer! Yet while they are pursued life slips away. I would not on
any account inform my father or Edward of my designs. You and Eliza
are the