en the yoke.

These inconveniences, however, were imaginary. This was the school in
which fortitude and independence were to be learned. Habit, and the
purity of rural manners, would, likewise, create anew those ties which
death had dissolved. The affections of parent and sister would be
supplied by the fonder and more rational attachments of friendship.
These toils were not detrimental to beauty or health. What was to be
dreaded from them was their tendency to quench the spirit of liberal
curiosity; to habituate the person to bodily, rather than intellectual,
exertions; to supersede and create indifference or aversion to the only
instruments of rational improvement, the pen and the book.

This evil, however, was at some distance from Eliza. Her present abode
was quiet and serene. Here she might enjoy domestic pleasures and
opportunities of mental improvement for the coming twelvemonth at least.
This period would, perhaps, be sufficient for the formation of studious
habits. What schemes should be adopted for this end would be determined
by the destiny to which I myself should be reserved.

My path was already chalked out, and my fancy now pursued it with
uncommon pleasure. To reside in your family; to study your profession;
to pursue some subordinate or casual mode of industry, by which I might
purchase leisure for medical pursuits, for social recreations, and for
the study of mankind on your busy and thronged stage, was the scope of
my wishes. This destiny would not hinder punctual correspondence and
occasional visits to Eliza. Her pen might be called into action, and her
mind be awakened by books, and every hour be made to add to her stores
of knowledge and enlarge the bounds of her capacity.

I was spiritless and gloomy when I left ----; but reflections on my
future lot, and just views of the situation of my friend, insensibly
restored my cheerfulness. I arrived at Mr. Curling's in the evening, and
hastened to impart to Eliza the issue of my commission. It gave her
uneasiness, merely as it frustrated the design, on which she had fondly
mused, of residing in the city. She was somewhat consoled by my promises
of being her constant correspondent and occasional visitor.

Next morning I set out on my journey hither, on foot. The way was not
long; the weather, though cold, was wholesome and serene. My spirits
were high, and I saw nothing in the world before me but sunshine and
prosperity. I was conscious that my happin