profitable manner. On my arrival in England, if the E.I. Company shall
think the circumstances of our voyage of sufficient consideration to com-
plete their promise, I shall have nearly £200 to receive from them, and I
hope also some pay due to me; so that upon the whole, my love, if I live
to return to England and get all these matters arranged, there is a pros-
pect that the interest of the whole, added to my half pay, will enable us to
live with some comfort, even should not the admiralty chuse [sic] to give me
employment. If any indemnification for what I have suffered here should
be made by the French government, it will alter the circumstances in our
favour; and in the ^ ^above calculation I make no allowance for the advantages
that may possibly accrue from the publication of my voyages.
      Having thus discussed the subjects of thy arrangement with M^r
Tyler and of our general interest, I return to those of love and friendship.
It is now my dearest friend fourteen months since the date of thy last
letter received here. I much fear that some subsequent ones have been lost or
detained, since the opportunities of writing by the way M^r Aken informed
thee are constant. The arrival of thy letters forms the greatest epochs in my
present monotonous life, and I sigh for them as for the most desired of
blessings; next to the liberation which should permit me to fly to thy arms
they afford me the greatest happiness I can receive. The improvement in
thy health, the constancy of thy affection, and the continued kindness of
our friends to thee, are the subjects which I call to my aid, to keep off
that depression of spirits which so many causes are ever ready to excite, and
I receive consolation from them. Cease not then, my best beloved, to write
often if thou wouldst preserve me from distraction. A six months
longer silence, without such an increase in my prospects as to give
me the strongest assurance of obtaining liberty may, alas, — be pro-
ductive of disastrous consequences. Such an accession of despair as
I experienced in September, would be more than my mind could sup-
-port. As I told thee in my last, should no important change take
place before the end of May next, I must and will attempt some-
-thing. Great risks must be run and sacrifices made, but my ho-