Posthumous Works of Mary Wollstonecraft/Volume 4/Letter 80
LETTERS
TO
Mr. JOHNSON,
BOOKSELLER,
IN
St. PAUL's CHURCH-YARD.
LETTERS
TO
Mr. JOHNSON.
LETTER I.
Dublin, April 14, [1787.]
Dear sir,
I AM still an invalid—and begin to believe that I ought never to expect to enjoy health. My mind preys on my body—and, when I endeavour to be useful, I grow too much interested for my own peace. Confined almost entirely to the society of children, I am anxiously solicitous for their future welfare, and mortified beyond measure, when counteracted in my endeavours to improve them.—I feel all a mother's fears for the swarm of little ones which surround me, and observe disorders, without having power to apply the proper remedies. How can I be reconciled to life, when it is always a painful warfare, and when I am deprived of all the pleasures I relish?—I allude to rational conversations, and domestic affections. Here, alone, a poor solitary individual in a strange land, tied to one spot, and subject to the caprice of another, can I be contented? I am desirous to convince you that I have some cause for sorrow—and am not without reason detached from life. I shall hope to hear that you are well, and am yours sincerely
Mary Wollstonecraft.