I was subject to the whims and the caprice of those, whom I solicited on these occasions[A].

To these I was obliged to accommodate myself.

When at Edinburgh, a person who could have given me material information, declined seeing me, though he really wished well to the cause.
When I had returned southward as far as York, he changed his mind; and he would then see me.

I went back, that I might not lose him.

When I arrived, he would give me only private information.