Feby. 12th. 1760 Sr.,1

When I last had the pleasure of conversing with yr. family upon some discorse relative to Dr. Youngs2 Works I then resolved in my Mind to transmit you that small performance of his which Accompanys this Letter. But I have neglected you'll say; I have so, & thereby given you An immediate Example of what he so fully discribes in this Treatize, & I have nothing to offer in Excuse for my long Neglect. Yet I flatter myself when you have read the Book you'll attribute it to the genral frailty of human Nature rather than to Any particular defect in me; tho I can but Observe to you that the complying with my first Resolution at this length of time without any repetition of the primary motive seems to intimate how sincere & well grounded it was.

The performance Sr. is the renow'd Dr. Young's & if he had not disgraced it by Suppressing it from his Collection of Works Nothing more need be said of it; but he has discarded it; that great Man would honour Nothing with his Patronage which is capable of an Exception; tis said he overstraind the Subject & was sensible of it that the discription is too high & exceeds nature; Yet like a Younger Son it resembles its Noble Parent & should be provided for tho not being the first born & full of his Strength may not be Heir to his Estate.

I think there are too many Useful & Striking Observation on human life, to be neglected, & which will force their way to our assent without deriving any Authority from their Author; & this Observation with submission to better Judges takes off the force of their Objections: for as it is a description of the Human mind in Various Circumstances of life the appeal is made to every Person's Apprehension & if we dont fear the discription it can do us no hurt, for it then will not affect us however gloomy; & if we do percieve the truth of his Observations, tis Nature & should be attended to; Undoubtedly there are many Instances of his most doleful Charecter & therefore if it be not correcty a Picture of wt. we are is nevertheless a good Monitor of what tis possible we may be, which at the same time that it greives us at the prospect of a Surrounding Evil, yet gives us secret pleasures to reflect that we are not already involvd in it & by seeing these Evils we learn to escape them & have the higher relish for the good we Enjoy. But these are Observations that might have been Spared, & the chief Motive of making them, arose from a sense of that177Satisfaction we all take in knowing the Character of the Book we read as well as the Person we converse with, & for a further Excuse I rest on yr. Candour & presenting my respects to yr. Lady & the rest of yr. family I take leave to subscribe,

Dft ; addressed: "To T F with Dr. Youngs Sermon."

1.

RTP was probably writing to Timothy Fales (1690–1777), a Bristol County magistrate and for a time a judge on the Court of Common Pleas in Taunton. When Fales made his will on Jan. 30, 1762, RTP was a witness (Sibley's Harvard Graduates, 5:578–580; Decoursey Fales, The Fales Family of Bristol, Rhode Island [n.p., 1919] 33–42).

2.

Edward Young (1683–1765). RTP probably refers to A Vindication of Providence: or a True Estimate of Human Life, a copy of which he purchased in 1758.