of October,--

The time I spend here appears lost. While I remained in England I
would fain have been near those I love.... I could not live the
life they lead at Eton; nothing but dress and ridicule going
forward, and I really believe their fondness for ridicule tends to
make them affected, the women in their manners and the men in their
conversation; for witlings abound, and puns fly about like
crackers, though you would scarcely guess they had any meaning in
them, if you did not hear the noise they create. So much company
without any sociability would be to me an insupportable fatigue. I
am, 'tis true, quite alone in a crowd, yet cannot help reflecting
on the scene around me, and my thoughts harass me. Vanity in one
shape or other reigns triumphant.... My thoughts and wishes tend to
that land where the God of love will wipe away all tears from our
eyes, where sincerity and truth will flourish, and the imagination
will not dwell on pleasing illusions which vanish like dreams when
experience forces us to see things as they really are. With what
delight do I anticipate the time when neither death nor accidents
of any kind will interpose to separate me from those I love....
Adieu; believe me to be your affectionate friend and sister,

MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT.

Finally the time came for her departure. In October, 1787, she set out
with Mr. and Mrs. Prior for Ireland, and towards the end of the month
arrived at the castle of Lord Kingsborough in Mitchelstown. Her first
impressions were gloomy. But, indeed, her depression and weakness were so
great, that she looked at all things, as if through a glass, darkly. Her
sorrows were still too fresh to be forgotten in idle curiosity about the
inhabitants and customs of her new home. Even if she had been in the best
of spirits, her arrival at the castle would have been a trying moment. It
is never easy for one woman to face alone several of her sex, who, she
knows, are waiting to criticise her. There were then staying with Lady
Kingsborough her step-mother and her three unmarried step-sisters and
several guests. Governesses in this household had fared much as
companions in Mrs. Dawson's. They had come and gone in rapid succession.
Therefore Mary was examined by these ladies much as a new horse is
inspected by a racer, or a new dog by a sportsman. She passed through the
ordeal success