This era of my life was one of unmingled enjoyment. My
charming Sophia passed her winters with her relations in town ;
and our evenings were, of course, mutually^ shared. In her so-
ciety, music and beauty warmed me into rapture ; and when the
summer called her and her gentle cousins of the city to her rural
home, I used to feel like a hermit. Then my thoughts would
revert to chemistry with increased earnestness. The goodness
of my father enabled me to surprise my friends with a superb
store, and I conducted it with brilliant and unexpected success.
Practical chemistry is a severe calling, and I was only a su-
perintendent of my establishment. I had faithful and competent
subordinates for all the details, which left me nearly one half of
my time to spend at leisure, with men of science and letters.
The inspiration thus acquired, all tended to one point, my ulti-
mate ascension. There was not a day in the year, in which the
thought of it was absent from my mind. Occasional notices of
ascensions abroad, which met my eye among the foreign quota-
tions, served only to fan the flame.
