A severe illness in middle life sometimes leaves the constitution in a better state than it found it. The vis medicatrix

in such cases goes to work like a landlord, who having neglected his house till it threatens to fall down, sets about a thorough repair.

On Thursd the 12^th of this month I shall compleat the fiftieth year of my age. My tenement has some ugly flaws in it, tho it has stood pretty well, all circumstances considered. For more than twenty years I have been subject to a severe & obstinate catarrh, beginning with the summer, & lasting ten or twelve weeks: nor have I ever escaped it except the year when I went into Switzerland at the time of its usual visitation.

Latterly it has always ended in a cough, & this year that cough has for the first time given me a hint of its hereditary right to fix upon me. – I am getting rid of it for the present, & have nearly recovered the strength which I had lost. But so surely as the seasons come round, so surely will the affection return, unless I can arm the system against it by a course of exercise & constant change of air at that time. If therefore it be possible, I will pass the months latter end of May, & the six following weeks next year in travelling Holland & the North of Germany.

I am printing the second vol. of the Peninsular War,

& more meo

writing it <one chapter> while the press is going on with another. Tho this may not be a good method, there are some good reasons for it, – the best being that it enables me to use <employ> the latest materials which fall in my way, more advantageously than xx <if> they came only in time to be used for correcting a narrative drawn from documents less satisfactory documents. This is a very sufficient reason. My materials are as authentic as I could desire, & as ample as would be desired by any person except myself. The D. of Wellington would not supply me with any papers, for a reason which Wynn has probably told you,

but thro Wynn he will give me any information I may have occasion to ask that can be communicated in x viva voce.

He would have done better in committing his papers to my hands, than in reserving them for a mere military history, – to which purpose they would have been equally applicable afterwards. But I have from others had so much both of his official & confidential correspondence during those years while he hxx was fighting up hill, – that perhaps he would be very much surprized to know how well I am acquainted with his views, feelings & opinions. So well indeed am I provided with documents, & with that previous knowledge which is necessary for turning them to account, that I proceed with full confidence & a firm step every where, – except upon a field of battle: – there indeed I am as sensible as I ought to be of my own ignorance; & when I have done my best to understand what to my non-military & non-mathematical head xx xxxx <is> unintelligible. I stick to the letter of my authorities & make the reader as wise as myself. When I come to these parts of the story, xx my own situation puts me in mind of a Cat upon a tea table, – if you ever saw one picking her way among the cups & saucers.

Should it please Gods, Men & Booksellers I am thinking of a Book of the State

– to be brought down to the death of Q Anne,

– & connected by an introductory view of the reigns of George 1 & 2, with a xxx the Age of George 3,

– making thus a summary of our English history upon a scale & in a form likely to be read & remembered. Want of books is the chief obstacle, & there need be no greater. I have lately read three works which would have made one part of my Eccl. Sketch

much less imperfect than it is, if I had perused them in time. Cardinal D’Ossat’s Letters,

Isaac Casaubons Epistles,

& Peter Heylyns View of Guernsey & Jersey.

One motive with me for undertaking a sketch of our Civil History would be for the opportunity it would afford of introducing there whatever of importance had been omitted in the former work.

These are speculations, which with many others of a wider scope & perhaps a worthier purpose, – time & chance may easily frustrate. Meantime – sufficient for the day is the occupation thereof. How glad should I be to talk with you over the past – the present – & the future, – here at leisure & at rest! – & I hope this will Whatever enjoyment there may be in meeting in London society (& I am far from undervaluing it,) there is nothing of this kind to be had in crowds. One day I hope to have you again under this roof.

Pleasure & profit are not always united, but in that case I should find them so; – for mine is a mind upon which good seed is not wasted – tho it is sometimes long in springing up & bringing forth fruit.