almost twelve months have elapsed since the date of your last letter,1 I am conscious that this chasm in our Correspondence my Dear Eliza has been my own fault and very often have I reprimanded myself for my inattention—in not having noticed your last kind Letter,—but many casualties have intervened to prevent me from writing, which I hope will gain me your favourable indulgence 441for past ommisions when I promise future amendment,— perhas when your family has enlarged as much as mine you may be less surprized at my want of punctuallity, I have thought of you often since I had the pleasure of seeing you, and have frequently heard of your health with much pleasure

I am again blessed with the society of my own family and I consider it as amongst the happiest Events of my Life; early after my Father arrived here, he requested with earnestness that we would take up our abode with him,— the affection which has ever dictated all his actions towards me, was too deeply impressed upon my heart to permit me to hesitate to Comply with a request which would in any degree accommodate himself and family;— we therefore accepted his profered kindness, and have resided with his family ever since;— my youngest Son has just recovered from the small Pox, & Louisa has had it very favourably and is now recovering—

I Congratulate you upon the acquisition your family Circle has lately made—(in a small society the addition of one who is disposed to promote sociability; quallified to perform the Duties of friendship; and capable of contributing their part of those attentions which render Life valuable; and upon the agreeable performance of which, much of our happiness depends,) is almost inestimable, be pleased to present me respectfully to this new relation, and offer my Congratulations to the good Dr if you please upon his Marriage.

I wish I could bring you acquainted with my friends—in this part of the World—that you would be pleased with them I am very sure—for they possess more of the qualifications essential in the Characters of amiable Women and agreeable Companions—and as few of the defects as any Ladies—I have been acquainted with; they are very different and yet variously pleasing— the grave and the gay are very happily blended in their minds which they have Cultivated,—and well furnished, their dispositions are lively, but tempered with judgment,—and they are well quallified, to fill the various Stations of Life,—with dignity;— their early expectations were very flattering; but they were soon Initiated into the School of adversity,— they have not sunk under the presure of misfortunes,—but have risen superior—to its influence,—and have quallifed their minds to their present situation, which tho not so affluent as they once had a right to expect, is, yet very eligable— by the ravages of War, their Habitation was utterly destroyed, and their Lands laid desolate;—

I hope my Dear Cousin that you enjoy your health and preserve your spirits you must not permit them to be depressed, for I believe 442that in almost every Situation which our imaginations have pictured as dangerous and distressing the reality falls short of our expectations, I cannot wish you more favour than I have received, that you may enjoy an equal degree is my earnest desire—

Colln Smith joins me in Compliments to Mr Norton, and all friends who may inquire after your / sincere well wisher, and friend—

one would suppose that the waters between N york and Road Island had produced the same effect upon you, that the Poets feign of the River Lethe, not a Line, not a word from you since you quitted Richmond Hill. are you so wholy absorpd in the study of the Law of Nations as to forget those of Nature?

I have been very sorry since you left us that your visit was made just at the period it was. a few untoward circumstances combined to render it less agreeable to you than it would have proved since. I should not have consented to your leaving us, if I had thought I should not have follow'd in a few days but the season of the year in which I must have returnd, & the arrangments I must have made to have tarried only two months quite discouraged me. at the next adjournment I hope to come on and pass several Months at Braintree.

Since I saw you, you have had an illusterous visiter. I hope you was one of the Choir who so aptly Serenaded him, with “the Hero comes.” he was much gratified with the attention shewn him: I have it from his own Mouth. is it in Humane Nature to be otherways? he ought to be immortal, for who can ever fill his place— I ought to inform you that the day after you left us, you had an invitation to dine there.1 we live in a most friendly intercourse, & madam makes very few visits but those of ceremony when she does not request my Ladyship to accompany her and I have several appointments of that kind now on Hand Let not the Busy fiend envy propogate reports so basely false as that there is any coldness Subsisting between the Families— Massachusetts alone could be guilty of such baseness. I hope the presence of the Late visiter has banishd antifederialism

I hope you have visited your Father since the misfortune of his Horse has prevented him from the excursion he intended.

Your Friends here desire to be rememberd to you and chide you for not writing. believe me most affectionatly / your &c