Memoirs Of Aaron Burr, Volume 1, Matthew L. Davis [book club suggestions .txt] 📗

Civil. Are The Wadsworths With You? Have You

Not Been Tormented With Some Embarrassments Which I Wickedly Left You

To Struggle With? I Hope You Don'T Believe The Epithet. But Why These

Questions, To Which I Can Receive No Answer But In Person? I

Nevertheless Fondly Persuade Myself That I Shall Receive Answers To

Them All, And Many More About Yourself, Which I Have In Mind,

Notwithstanding You Will Not Have Seen This. There Is Such A Sympathy

In Our Ideas And Feelings, That You Can'T But Know What Will Most

Interest Me.

 

 

Give Johnstone The Enclosed Memorandum; Or, If He Has Gone Home, To

Bartow; The Business Is Of Importance, And Admits Of No Delay.

 

 

Affectionately Adieu,

 

 

A. Burr.

Chapter XIV Pg 243

To Mrs. Burr.

 

 

Chester, Friday, May, 1785.

 

 

I Arrived Here About Eleven O'Clock This Forenoon, With Little

Fatigue, My Horse Being An Excellent One. Appearances Are Hostile;

They Talk Of Twenty Or Twenty-Five Days At Least. I Believe I Shall

Not Hold Out So Long. The Commissioners Are Met, But Not All The

Parties, So That The Business Is Not Yet Begun. The Gentlemen From

Albany Are Not Yet Arrived Or Heard Of. We Shall Probably Do Nothing

Till They Come. I Have Comfortable Clean Quarters.

 

 

Tell One Of The Boys To Send Me Some Supreme Court Seals; About Six. I

Forgot Them. Write Me What Calls Are Made At The Office For Me.

Distribute My Love. Let Each Of The Children Write Me What They Do.

You May Certainly Find Some Opportunity. Adieu.

 

 

A. Burr.

Chapter XIV Pg 244

To Mrs. Burr.

 

 

Chester, May, 1785.

 

 

I Strayed This Morning For An Hour Or Two In The Woods, Where I Lay On

A Rock To Enjoy The Wild Retreat. The Cheerfullness Of All Around Me

Led Me To Ask Why All Animated Nature Enjoyed Its Being But Man? Why

Man Alone Is Discontented, Anxious--Sacrificing The Present To Idle

Expectations;--Expectations Which, If Answered, Are In Like Manner

Sacrificed. Never Enjoying, Always Hoping? Answer, _Tu Mihi Magna

Apollo_. I Would Moralize, But Time--And My Companions Are Coming In.

Let Me Hear Of Your Health. Avoid All Fatigue. Judge Yates Proposes To

Come Down With Me. Quoi Faire?

 

 

My Good Landlady Is Out Of Tea, And Begs Me To Send For A Pound. Put

It Up Very Well. I Am In Better Health Than Spirits. Adieu.

 

 

A. Burr.

Chapter XIV Pg 245

From Mrs. Burr.

 

 

New-York, May, 1785.

 

 

I Am Vexed That I Did Not Inquire Your Route More Particularly. I

Cannot Trace You In Imagination, Nor Find Your Spirit When At Rest;

Nor Dare I Count The Hours To Your Return. They Are Still Too

Numerous, And Add To My Impatience. I Expect My Reward In The Health

You Acquire. If It Should Prove Otherwise, How I Shall Hate My

Acquiescence To Your Departure. I Anticipate Good Or Evil As My

Spirits Rise Or Fall; But I Know No Medium; My Mind Cannot Reach That

Stage Of Indifference. I Fancy All My Actions Directed By You; This

Tends To Spur My Industry, And Give Calm To My Leisure.

 

 

The Family As You Left It. Bartow Never Quits The Office, And Is

Perfectly Obliging. Your Dear Little Daughter Seeks You Twenty Times A

Day; Calls You To Your Meals, And Will Not Suffer Your Chair To Be

Filled By Any Of The Family.

 

 

Judge Hobart Called Here Yesterday; Says You Are Absent For A Month. I

Do Not Admit That Among Possibilities, And Therefore Am Not Alarmed. I

Feel Obliged To Mr. Wickham For His Delay, Though I Dare Not Give

Scope To My Pen; My Heart Dictates Too Freely. O, My Aaron! How Many

Tender, Grateful Things Rush To My Mind In This Moment; How Much

Fortitude Do I Summon To Suppress Them! You Will Do Justice To Their

Silence; To The Inexpressible Affection Of Your _Plus Tendre Amie_.

 

 

Bartow Has Been To The Surveyor-General; He Cannot Inform Him The

Boundaries Of Those Lots For J. W. There Is No Map Of Them But One In

Albany.

 

 

Theodosia.

Chapter XIV Pg 246

To Mrs. Burr.

 

 

Chester, May, 1785.

 

 

I Joined The Commissioners And Parties In The Woods, Near This Place,

On Wednesday Noon; Found The Weather Severe, And Roads Bad. Have,

Since My Arrival, Been Following The Commissioners In Their Surveys.

Nothing Transpires From Which We Can Conjecture Their Intentions.

 

 

This Morning Came Your Kind, Your Affectionate, Your Truly Welcome

Letter Of Monday Evening. Where Did It Loiter So Long? Nothing In My

Absence Is So Flattering To Me As Your Health And Cheerfullness. I

Then Contemplate Nothing So Eagerly As My Return; Amuse Myself With

Ideas Of My Own Happiness, And Dwell On The Sweet Domestic Joys Which

I Fancy Prepared For Me.

 

 

Nothing Is So Unfriendly To Every Species Of Enjoyment As Melancholy.

Gloom, However Dressed, However Caused, Is Incompatible With

Friendship. They Cannot Have Place In The Mind At The Same Time. It Is

The Secret, The Malignant Foe Of Sentiment And Love. Adieu.

 

 

A. Burr.

Chapter XIV Pg 247

From Mrs. Burr.

 

 

New-York, May, 1785.

 

 

Your Dear Letter Was Handed Me This Day, At A Moment Which, If

Possible, Increased Its Value. I Have A Little Fever Hanging About Me,

Which Tends To Depress My Spirits For The Time. Your Moralizing

Changed My Dulness To A Pleasing Melancholy. I Am Mortified At The

Interruption It Met, And Impatient To Renew The Theme; To Renew It In

A More Pleasing Manner Than Even Your Letters Afford. When My Health

Is Ill, I Find Your Absence Insupportable; Every Evil Haunts Me. It Is

The Last That Must Take Place Till Term; _That_ I Must Submit To. I Am

Pleased With Your Account Of Your Health And Spirits; They Are Both As

I Wish.

 

 

When You Write Again, Speak Of Your Return. The Uncertainty Makes It

More Irksome. The Company You Speak Of Will Be As Welcome As Any At

This Juncture; But My Health And Mind Seem To Require The Calm

Recreation Of Friendly Sympathy; The Heart That Has Long Been United

To Mine By The Tenderest Esteem And Confidence, Who Has Made Every

Little Anxiety Its Own, To Whom I Can Speak Without Reserve Every

Imaginary Wo, And Whose Kind Consolation Shall Appease Those Miseries

Nature Has Imposed. But Whatever Present Inconveniences May Arise, I

Submit To Them With Perfect Resignation, Rather Than, Even In Idea, To

Expect The One Mentioned By You When Last At Home. My Mind Is

Impressed With A Perfect Dread Of All Of That Kind. We Never Can Have

One To Give Us So Little Trouble As E. W., And Yet We Found It Great.

We Must Avoid All Such Invitations, For The Sacrifice On My Part Is

Too Great.

 

 

Friday Morning.

 

 

I Have Passed A Most Tedious Night. I Went To Bed Much Indisposed. M.

Absent; Mamma Also. Ten Thousand Anxieties Surrounded Me Till Three,

When I Fell Asleep; Waked At Six, Much Refreshed, And In Better Health

Than I Could Possibly Have Expected. I Flatter Myself Your Task Will

End Sooner Than You Expected. Mr. Marvin Calls For My Letter This

Morning, Which Will Be Delivered With A Pound Of Green Tea I Have

Purchased For Your Landlady At Two Dollars. He Has Called. I Am

Hurried. Ten Thousand Loves

 

 

_Toujours La Votre_.

 

 

Theodosia.

Chapter XIV Pg 248

To Mrs. Burr.

 

 

Jane'S In The Mountains, May, 1785.

 

 

I Wrote My Dear Theodosia A Long Letter Of Business And Nonsense Last

Evening From Chester. I Am Now About Twelve Miles Nearer To You, And

Shall Sleep To-Night Within Thirty-Five Miles (Only Six Hours' Ride),

And Shall To-Morrow Return Surlily To Chester.

 

 

Our Cavalcade Is Most Fortunately Composed. Some Who Abhor Fatigue,

Others Who Admire Good Fare, By Which By Which Combination We Ride

Slow And Live Well. We Have Halted Here Half An Hour To Lounge And

Take A Luncheon. Of The Last, I Partook Reasonably. The Time Which

Others Devote To The Former, I Devote (Of Right) To You, And Thus

Lounge With Peculiar Glee.

 

 

By Return Of Mr. Smith (Who Is Obliging Enough To Deliver This), I

Expect Much Longer Letters From Our Lazy Flock. By The Next

Opportunity I Determine Not To Write You, But Some Others Who Deserve

More Attention Than I Fear They Will Think I