Iwasthenatworkuponmyburlesque“TheImpatientGriselda。”andwassometimesatmywits’endforapieceofbusinessorasituation；hegavememanysuggestions，allofwhichweremarkedbyexcellentgoodsense。NeverthelessIcouldnotprevailwithhimtoputphilosophyononeside，andwasobligedtoleavehimtohimself。
Foralongtime，asIhavesaid，hischoiceofsubjectscontinuedtobesuchasIcouldnotapprove。Hewascontinuallystudyingscientificandmetaphysicalwriters，inthehopeofeitherfindingormakingforhimselfaphilosopher’sstoneintheshapeofasystemwhichshouldgoonallfoursunderallcircumstances，insteadofbeingliabletobeupsetateverytouchandturn，aseverysystemyetpromulgatedhasturnedouttobe。
Hekepttothepursuitofthiswill-o’-the-wispsolongthatIgaveuphope，andsethimdownasanotherflythathadbeencaught，asitwere，byapieceofpaperdaubedoverwithsomestickystuffthathadnoteventhemeritofbeingsweet，buttomysurpriseheatlastdeclaredthathewassatisfied，andhadfoundwhathewanted。
Isupposedthathehadonlyhituponsomenew“Lo，here！”whentomyrelief，hetoldmethathehadconcludedthatnosystemwhichshouldgoperfectlyuponallfourswaspossible，inasmuchasnoonecouldgetbehindBishopBerkeley，andthereforenoabsolutelyincontrovertiblefirstpremisecouldeverbelaid。Havingfoundthishewasjustaswellpleasedasifhehadfoundthemostperfectsystemimaginable。Allhewantedhesaid，wastoknowwhichwayitwastobe——thatistosaywhetherasystemwaspossibleornot，andifpossiblethenwhatthesystemwastobe。Havingfoundoutthatnosystembasedonabsolutecertaintywaspossiblehewascontented。
IhadonlyaveryvagueideawhoBishopBerkeleywas，butwasthankfultohimforhavingdefendedusfromanincontrovertiblefirstpremise。IamafraidIsaidafewwordsimplyingthatafteragreatdealoftroublehehadarrivedattheconclusionwhichsensiblepeoplereachwithoutbotheringtheirbrainssomuch。