A. BURR.
TO THEODOSIA.
Washington, January 28, 1805.
Your letter of the 1st of January found me at Philadelphia, and at the moment of leaving it. Your kind wishes came so warm from the heart, that, in a journey of eight hundred miles, at this inclement season, they had not yet cooled.
You treat with too much gravity the New-Jersey affair. It should be considered as a farce, and you will yet see it terminated so as to leave only ridicule and contempt to its abettors. The affair of Celeste is for ever closed, so there is one trouble off hand.
After you get through the book you are now reading, which I think is Anacharsis, or is it Gibbon? you better suspend history till you have gone through B. You do wrong to read so slow the first reading of B. I had rather you went through it like a novel, to get fixed in your mind a kind of map of the whole; after which, when you come to read scientifically, you would better see the relations and bearings of one part to another. In all journeys, whether on foot or on horseback, it is a relief to know not only where you start from, but where you are going to, and all the intermediate stages. I beg that in every letter you will give me one line about B., and ask me questions if you please.
A. BURR.
TO THEODOSIA.
Washington, February 23, 1805.
I regret the unprofitable employment of your time, and sincerely hope such long visitations will not be repeated; but you are something to blame to have taken no books with you, and again for not finding one at Clifton, where I know there are many. Still I believe in your good intentions and in their execution. It will add greatly to my happiness to know that the cultivation of your mind is not neglected; because I know that without it you will become unfit for the duties, as well as the enjoyments of life. Perhaps, also, my vanity may be something concerned.