Page:Paul Clifford Vol 2.djvu/27

Rh I am quite sure, it will one day or other command.

"You are not aware, perhaps, my dear Joseph, that I have for some time been in a very weak and declining state of health. The old nervous complaint in my face has of late attacked me grievously, and the anguish is sometimes so great that I am scarcely able to bear it. I believe the great demand which my profession makes upon a frame of body never strong, and now beginning prematurely to feel the infirmities of time, is the real cause of my maladies. At last, however, I must absolutely punish my pocket, and indulge my inclinations by a short respite from toil. The doctors—sworn friends, you know, to the lawyers—since they make common cause against mankind, have peremptorily ordered me to lie by, and to try a short course of air, exercise, social amusements, and the waters of Bath. Fortunately this is Vacation time, and I can afford to lose a few weeks of emolument, in order, perhaps, to secure many years of life. I purpose then, early next week, repairing to that melancholy reservoir of the gay, where persons dance out of life, and are fiddled across the Styx. In a word, I