Complete Works of Helvétius

LETTER II.

I am tired, sir and dear friend, of having written so much vile prose without any hope of ever seeing anything of it printed in my lifetime. I no longer have the courage for long, laborious undertakings; my memory weakens every day. I need occupations that I can put down and take up at will. I have regained a taste for verse, for which you had made me so passionate twenty-five years ago and more. They want me to finish the poem Happiness original: "le poëme du Bonheur". I am far from having as good an opinion of it as my friends do. Your verses have disgusted me with my own. But you would not like to see me comment,