_'L'unica speranza di mia vita_.'--No doubt,as you say,our Mechanical Age is necessary as a passage to something better;but,at least,do not let us go back."--At the New-year time,feeling unusually well,he returns to Clifton.
His plans,of course,were ever fluctuating;his movements were swift and uncertain.Alas,his whole life,especially his winter-life,had to be built as if on wavering drift-sand;nothing certain in it,except if possible the "two or three hours of work"snatched from the general whirlpool of the dubious four-and-twenty!
_To Dr.Carlyle_.
"_Clifton,January 10th_,1841.--I stood the sharp frost at Torquay with such entire impunity,that at last I took courage,and resolved to return home.I have been here a week,in extreme cold;and have suffered not at all;so that I hope,with care I may prosper in spite of medical prognostics,--if you permit such profane language.I am even able to work a good deal;and write for some hours every morning,by dint of getting up early,which an Arnott stove in my study enables me to do."--But at Clifton he cannot continue.Again,before long,the rude weather has driven him Southward;the spring finds him in his former haunts;doubtful as ever what to decide upon for the future;but tending evidently towards a new change of residence for household and self:--_To W.Coningham,Esq_.