Every man has his own especial Fates; and the three sisters who take care of me are grim, hard-visaged, harder-hearted spinsters, not to be mollified by propitiation, or by the smooth tongue of the flatterer.

The cup is very sweet, and it seems almost within my grasp; but between that chalice of delight and the lips that thirst for it, ah, what a gulf! _Nov.13th_.The above was written late at night, and under the influence of my black dog.

What an ill-conditioned cur he is, and how he mouths and mangles the roses that bestrew his pathway, always bent upon finding the worm at the core! I kicked the brute out of doors this morning, on finding a letter from my dear one lying in my plate.

"Avaunt, aroint thee, foul fiend!" I cried.

"Thou art the veritable poodle in whose skin Mephistopheles hides when bent on direst mischief.