Pray, madam, give your orders to Peggy yourself. She writes a better hand than I do, and would be so proud to receive a letter from Missy. I have shown her that part of your letter which concerns her, and she is now engaged in executing your commands.
A. BURR.
TO THEODOSIA.
New-York, July 1, 1804.
Having been shivering with cold all day, though in perfect health, I have now, just at sunset, had a fire in my library, and am sitting near it and enjoying it, if that word be applicable to any thing done in solitude. Some very wise man, however, has exclaimed,
"Oh! fools, who think it solitude to be alone."
This is but poetry. Let us, therefore, drop the subject, lest it lead to another on which I have imposed silence on myself.
You may recollect, and, if you do not, your husband will, that he has several times requested me to open a correspondence between him and my bookseller in London. To introduce the thing, I desired Mr. White to send with my next parcel of books a parcel for Mr. Alston, not exceeding the value of fifty guineas, and referred him to Mr. M'Kinnon for instructions. The books came out accordingly, and, with respect to my box, all was smooth and fair; but it was alleged by the owners of the ship and by the captain, that the box for Mr. Alston, having been irregularly shipped, occasioned the seizure and detention of the ship, and the owners refused to deliver the box unless I would pay thirty guineas damages. This I declined, and the box was taken to the custom-house, where it has lain these six weeks unopened. After the expiration of nine months it will be opened, and the contents sold at auction by order of the officers of the customs. I shall write to the bookseller, Mr. White, to employ his own agent here to look to the box as his property. This trifling tale would not have been told but to show Mr. Alston that I really have made an attempt to establish a correspondence for him.
You ought to be collecting a few books for your own use. One way of forming a small library, and which I recommend to you, is to note down the title of every book which, either from its reputation or from perusal, you may wish to possess. Make you a small memorandum book for this purpose. If they be written on loose scraps, by the time you get a dozen eleven of them will be lost. I recommend to you a new publication called the Edinburgh Review. One number is issued every three months. The plan of the editors differs from that of similar works in that they give more copious extracts, and notice only books of merit or reputation.
I wait impatiently for some of your tales. No hasty scrawls, madam, for I will correct nothing. We have now here three shiploads of South Carolinians, who all find the weather intolerably hot, though I have slept under a blanket every night except one in all June.