Thomas Beddoes to Maria Thompson, [1802/1803] (5)
No sweet _____, you need not despair of yourself. You have fallen short of some, no doubt, in positive acquisitions, but you have worked your own head more effectually than most of those who have had the best opportunities of instruction; and certainly you will not fall short of any expectations which your conversation or letters might raise: You will soon get mere instruction.
I think that whoever has intense feelings, (which is the chief cause of excellence) must feel emulation on hearing others praised; and for the same reason, that spur would be no longer felt, when the sensibility was wounded by other causes, as yours has been. You have just done what I wished, and I do not find any reason to differ from you. But I am excessively pressed by the printer for matter for my Essays, and when he is supplied I will read you over again, and tell you my objections, if any arise.
Published: Stock, pp. 287–88