Memoirs of Aaron Burr Part 53

Io, triumphe! There is not a word mispelled either in your journal or letter, which cannot be said of a single page you ever before wrote.

The fable is quite cla.s.sical, and, if not very much corrected by Mr.

Leshlie, is truly a surprising performance, and written most beautifully. But what has become of poor Alpha Beta? Discouraged? That is impossible. Laid aside for the present? That, indeed, is possible, but by no means probable. Shall I guess again? Yes; you mean to surprise me with some astonis.h.i.+ng progress. And yet, to confess the truth, your lessons in Terence, Exercises, and "music" (without a _k_, observe) seem to leave little time for any other study. I must remain in suspense for four days longer.

Doctor Rush thinks that bark would not be amiss, but may be beneficial if the stomach does not rebuke it, which must be constantly the first object of attention. He recommends either the cold infusion or substance as least likely to offend the stomach.

Be able, upon my arrival, to tell me the difference between an _infusion_ and _decoction_; and the history, the virtues, and the _botanical_ or medical name of the bark. Chambers will tell you more perhaps than you will wish to read of it. Your little mercurial disquisition is ingenious, and prettily told.

I have a most dreary prospect of weather and roads for my journey. I set off on Sat.u.r.day morning, and much fear that it will take two or three days to get to Now-York.

A. BURR.

TO THEODOSIA.

Philadelphia, 13th February, 1794.

I received your letter and enclosures yesterday in Senate. I stopped reading the letter, and took up the story in the place you directed; was really affected by the interesting little tale, faithfully believing it to have been taken from the Mag. D'Enf., and was astonished and delighted when I recurred to the letter and found the little deception you had played upon me. It is concisely and handsomely told, and is indeed a performance above your years.

Mr. Leshlie is not, I am afraid, a competent judge of what you are capable of learning; you must convince him that you can, when you set in earnest about it, accomplish wonders.

Do you mean that the forty lines which you construed in Virgil were in a part you had not before learned?

I despair of getting genuine Tent wine in this city. There never was a bottle of real unadulterated Tent imported here for sale. Mr.

Jefferson, who had some for his own use, has left town. Good Burgundy and Muscat, mixed in equal parts, make a better Tent than can be bought. But by Bartow's return you shall have what I can get--sooner if I find a conveyance.

Bartow is the most perfect gossip I ever knew; though, I must say, it is the kind of life I have advised him to while he stays here. Adieu.

A. BURR.

TO THEODOSIA.

Philadelphia, 7th March, 1794.

Your letter of the 4th was three days on the road. I am certain that I have answered punctually all which have come to hand. True, I have not written to you as frequently as during the first few weeks of my residence here. For the last month I have been very much occupied by public business. You will need no other proof of it when I tell you that near twenty unanswered letters are now on my desk, not one of yours among them, however, except that received last evening. I have not even been to the theatre except about an hour, and then it was more an errand of business than amus.e.m.e.nt.

Poor Tom, [3] I hope you take good care of him. If he is confined by his leg, &c., he must pay the greater attention to his reading and writing.

I shall run off to see you about Sunday or Monday; but the roads are so extremely bad that I expect to be three days getting through. I will bring with me the cherry sweetmeats, and something for _Augusta Louisa Matilda Theodosia Van Horne_. I believe I have not recollected all her names.

Affectionately,

A. BURR.

TO THEODOSIA.

Philadelphia, 31st March, 1794.

I am distressed at your loss of time. I do not, indeed, wholly blame you for it, but this does not diminish my regret. When you want punctuality in your letters, I am sure you want it in every thing; for you will constantly observe that you have the most leisure when you do the most business. Negligence of one's duty produces a self-dissatisfaction which unfits the mind for every thing, and _ennui_ and peevishness are the never-failing consequences. You will readily discover the truth of these remarks by reflecting on your own conduct, and the different feelings which have flowed from a persevering attention to study, or a restless neglect of it.

I shall in a few days (this week) send you a most beautiful a.s.sortment of flower-seeds and flowering shrubs. If I do not receive a letter from you to-morrow, I shall be out of all patience. Every day's journal will, I hope, say something of mamma.

A. BURR.

TO THEODOSIA.

Philadelphia, 7th June, 1794.

I have received my dear Theo.'s two little, very little, French letters. The last left you tormented with headache and toothache, too much for one poor little girl to suffer at one time, I am sure: you had doubtless taken solue sudden cold. You must fight them as well as you can till I come, and then I will engage to keep them at bay.

I remark that you do not acknowledge the receipt of a long letter which I wrote you on the road the night after I left New-York. I hope it has not missed you; but it is needless now to ask about it, for I shall certainly see you before I could receive your answer to this.

Whatever you shall translate of Terence, I beg you to have copied in a book in a very fair handwriting.

A. BURR.

TO THEODOSIA.

Albany, 4th August, 1794.

MY DEAR THEO.,

We arrived here yesterday, after a hot, tedious pa.s.sage of _seven days_. We were delayed as well by accidents as by calms and contrary winds, The first evening, being under full sail, we ran ash.o.r.e at Tappan, and lay there aground, in a very uncomfortable situation, twenty-four hours. With great labour and fatigue we got off on the following night, and had scarce got under sail before we missed our longboat. We lost the whole tide in hunting for it, and so lay till the morning of Wednesday. Having then made sail again, with a pretty strong head wind, at the very first tack the Dutch horse fell overboard. The poor devil was at the time tied about the neck with a rope, so that he seemed to have only the alternatives of hanging or drowning (for the river is here about four miles wide, and the water was very rough); fortunately for him, the rope broke, and he went souse into the water. His weight sunk him so deep that we were at least fifty yards from him before he came up. He snorted off the water, and turning round once or twice, as if to see where he was, then recollecting the way to New-York, he immediately swam off down the river with all force. We fitted out our longboat in pursuit of him, and at length drove him on sh.o.r.e on the Westchester side, where I hired a man to take him to Frederick's. All this delayed us nearly a whole tide more. The residue of the voyage was without accident, except such as you may picture to yourself in a small cabin, with seven men, seven women, and two crying children--two of the women being the most splenetic, ill-humoured animals you can imagine.

On my arrival here I was delighted to receive your letter of the 30th, with the journal of that and the preceding days. Your history of those three days is very full and satisfactory, and has induced me, by way of return, to enlarge on the particulars of my journey. I am quite gratified that you have secured Mrs. Penn's (observe how it is spelled) good opinion, and content with your reasons for not saying the civil things you intended. In case you should dine in company with her, I will apprize you of one circ.u.mstance, by a trifling attention to which you may elevate yourself in her esteem. She is a great advocate for a very plain, rather abstemious diet in children, as you may see by her conduct with Miss Elizabeth. Be careful, therefore, to eat of but one dish; that a plain roast or boiled: little or no gravy or b.u.t.ter, and very sparingly of dessert or fruit: not more than half a gla.s.s of wine; and if more of any thing to eat or drink is offered, decline it. If they ask a reason--Papa thinks it not good for me, is the best that can be given.

It was with great pain and reluctance that I made this journey without you. But your manners are not yet quite sufficiently formed to enable you to do justice to your own character, [4] and the expectations which are formed of you, or to my wishes. Improve, therefore, to the utmost the present opportunity; inquire of every point of behaviour about which you are embarra.s.sed; imitate as much as you can the manners of Madame De S., and observe also every thing which Mrs. Penn says and does.

You should direct your own breakfast. Send Cesar every morning for a pint of milk for you; and, to save trouble to Madame De S., let her know that you eat at breakfast only bread and b.u.t.ter.

I wish you would read over your letters after you have written them; for so many words are omitted, that in some places I cannot make out the sense, _if any they contain_. Make your figures or ciphers in your letters, but write out the numbers at length, except dates. Adieu, affectionately adieu,

A. BURR.

TO THEODOSIA.

Albany, 14th August, 17 94.

MY DEAR THEO.,