the meaning of 'evil which seem blessings to the memory'?

A part of Mortal Immortal, by Mary Shelley:

Soon after this eventful day, I became the husband of Bertha. I ceased to be the scholar of Cornelius, but I continued his friend. I always felt grateful to him for having, unaware, procured me that delicious draught of a divine elixir, which, instead of curing me of love **(**sad cure! solitary and joyless remedy for evils which seem blessings to the memory****), had inspired me with courage and resolution, thus winning for me an inestimable treasure in my Bertha.

How come evils seem blessings to the memory?

It doesn't seem to be very logical.

Answer

The narrator has an ambivalent feeling about love (the 'evils' he refers to in his parenthetical remark).

A contemporary writer would most likely include the word 'like' in that description (it is only implied in Shelley's text), and might also change the order of its elements to make the intended meaning better apparent:

solitary and joyless remedy for evils which, to the memory, seem like blessings.