Ph. Church and Miss Stewart, of Philadelphia, it is said, are to be married; Duer (which Duer I don't know) and Miss M. Denning reported as engaged; Bunner and Miss Church said to be mutually in love; on his part avowed, on hers not denied.
The Earl of Selkirk is here: a frank, unassuming, sensible man of about thirty. Whether he thinks of La R. is unknown to the writer. He dines with me on Monday.
If you had one particle of invention or genius, you would have taught A. B. A. his a, b, c before this. God mend you. His fibbing is an inheritance, which pride, an inheritance, will cure. His mother went through that process. Adieu.
A. BURR.
TO THEODOSIA.
New-York, April 3, 1804.
I hasten to acknowledge your long, interesting, and beautiful letter of the 14th. It is received this morning, and finds me in the midst of occupations connected with the approaching election: of course, every moment interruptions.
The History of Frederic II. will amuse you. You will read Montesquieu with interest and instruction. Yet he has a character—I mean that his "Esprit des Loix" has a character above its merit. His historical facts are, nevertheless, collected and arranged with judgment, and his reasoning is ingenuous. The political dogmas are not, however, to be received as axioms. They are neither founded on experience nor on a knowledge of human nature.
You improve greatly in your style and manner of writing. A little more pains and a little more reading, and you will exceed Lady Mary W. Montague. Practice, however, is indispensable. The art of writing is an acquirement, as much as music or dancing.
April 7.