the advice of
persons qualified to judge of the probability of obtaining
satisfaction, or the means the said Ellison or his connections, who
may be proved to be implicated in his guilt, may have, or power of
being able to make restitution, and then commence a new prosecution
for the same accordingly....

Respecting the cargo of goods in the hands of Messrs. Myburg and
Co., Mrs. Imlay has only to consult the most experienced persons
engaged in the disposition of such articles, and then, placing them
at their disposal, act as she may deem right and proper....

Thus confiding in the talent, zeal, and earnestness of my dearly
beloved friend and companion, I submit the management of these
affairs entirely and implicitly to her discretion.

Remaining most sincerely and affectionately hers truly,

G. IMLAY.

_Witness_, J. SAMUEL.

Unfortunately for Mary, she was detained at Hull, from which town she was
to set sail, for about a month. She was thus unable immediately to still
the memory of her sorrows. It is touching to see how, now that she could
no longer doubt that Imlay was made of common clay, she began to find
excuses for him. She represented to herself that it was her misfortune to
have met him too late. Had she known him before dissipation had enslaved
him, there would have been none of this trouble. She was, furthermore,
convinced that his natural refinement was not entirely destroyed, and
that if he would but make the effort he could overcome his grosser
appetites. To this effect she wrote him from Hull:--

"I shall always consider it as one of the most serious misfortunes
of my life, that I did not meet you before satiety had rendered
your senses so fastidious as almost to close up every tender avenue
of sentiment and affection that leads to your sympathetic heart.
You have a heart, my friend; yet, hurried away by the impetuosity
of inferior feelings, you have sought in vulgar excesses for that
gratification which only the heart can bestow.

"The common run of men, I know, with strong health and gross
appetites, must have variety to banish ennui, because the
imagination never lends its magic wand to convert appetite into
love, cemented by according reason. Ah! my friend, you know not the
ineffable delight, the exquisite pleasure, which arises from an
unison of affec