Augusta Ada Lovelace to Faraday   13 November 1844

Wed[nes]day | 13th Novr.

Agreed then!

I say Amen to every line. You must know that the fairy always takes to "hard, rough, & Straightforward" mortals.

You have yet to learn how well she can understand those who are yet wholly different from herself. That power is part of her fairy-gift.

Meanwhile you would think she paid dear for her gifts (such as they are), if you indeed knew all she goes thro', (& has gone thro' in her life).

I have been very ill the last 3 weeks even;- one of my too frequent attacks. I am subject to two very delightful ailments.

Gastritis (alias Gastric Fever); and Asthma.

I am getting better again now. I said nothing about this to you, till I was mending.

I am able to work on, more or less, under even dreadful states of suffering. Had I not this ballast, this hard food for my ideas, I should indeed be a tempest-tossed bark under my most extraordinary physical constitution. When quite unfit for speaking even, I can reflect, & sometimes write; & this keeps me all compos and happy.

My strength never fails. The vis vitae seems intense in my case. It is this curious fact which made the distinguished M.D I mentioned¹, compare me to the pure Arab Blood-Horse.

I have no weak or bad constitution, tho' I have one prone to sufferings - quite a different thing. There is the wing power & endurance of the true blood far more than in those who perhaps never suffer at all. Intense vitality engenders intensely acute susceptibilities sometimes. So that in fact it is my strength that is my weakness.

I wanted you to know a little of all this, before we meet.

I gain experience every month of my life; & thro' treatment expect to ward of[f] illnesses more & more effectually.

You can have no idea of my fearful susceptibility to certain agents put into the stomach.

And almost all the ordinary medical rules are reversed in my case.

Excepting my mother ², & you, I have not mentioned to any correspondent, that I have been ill lately. To say the truth, it is so very familiar an occurrence that I say as little about it even as possible.

I have learned how to manage so as to keep it chiefly behind the scenes; a great comfort!

I know no one so strong, so vitalized, as myself; notwithstanding all this.

There is nothing for you to answer in this letter.

How glad I shall be when we meet! Meanwhile think of me as a pleasant thought, if you can; & always remembering my mixed fairy & mortal nature. I believe that of the latter there is very little however.

Pain & suffering have sharply & sternly schooled me, & made me dead to all merely earthly things.

Ever yours then, | The Ladye Fairy.

Endorsed by Faraday: 1844