Though in my former letters I did not, in express terms, inform you that I was under ostracism, yet it must have been inferred. Such is the fact. In New-York I am to be disfranchised, and in New-Jersey hanged. Having substantial objections to both, I shall not, for the present, hazard either, but shall seek another country. You will not, from this, conclude that I have become passive, or disposed to submit tamely to the machinations of a banditti. If you should you would greatly err.——and his clan affect to deplore, but secretly rejoice at and stimulate the villanies of all sorts which are practised against me. Their alarm and anxiety, however, are palpable to a degree perfectly ridiculous. Their awkward attempts to propitiate reminds one of the Indian worship of the evil spirit. God bless you ever.
A. BURR.
TO THEODOSIA.
Philadelphia, March 29, 1805.
I arrived here on the 21st instant, and shall remain here yet ten days. John W. Smith is now here. He married Miss Duer a few weeks ago, and will take her, with Frances, &c., to Orleans next month. Ann does not go; but one younger than Susan, whose name I forget. Miss Dallas is to be married in a few days to a handsome young man, just admitted to the bar: no fortune, but said to possess talents. Poor La R. quite pale and emaciated; the fruit of dissipation. Celeste as heretofore, abating the influence of time, which is a little too visible; courteous even to flattery. La Planche a recluse. Miss Binney is to be married next week to Mr. Wallace, a young lawyer of this city of good character and prospects.
People who are occupied are never dull, never melancholy. I learn, then, from your letter of the 10th, that you have been a little lazy. To be sure, if that letter was written for publication, it would do credit to the author; but to me, en particulier, other reflections might have occurred. The story, however, is prettily told, and I kiss your hand for some other pretty things. But let me see more of the effects of those precepts and that example.
I am apprehensive that your milk diet will not carry you through the summer. You will want stimulus of some kind. For this purpose something is used in all warm countries. In the West Indies they drink rum and they die. In the East Indies and China, ginseng is the panacea. Try ginseng. Some decoction or (bitter) infusion. When my stomach is out of order or wants tone, nothing serves so effectually as a cup of chamomile tea, without sugar or milk. I think this would give you an appetite. Make the experiment. Bathing in seawater is a grand preservative. If your bath be in the house, the best time is an hour or two before dinner. Tepid bath; none of your cold baths for such a machine as yours. If you have no convenience for a warm bath in the house, set a mason to work to-morrow and make one in each of your country houses. It is a high evidence of the barbarism of our Southern states that, in an extent of three hundred miles, filled with wealthy people, and in a hot climate, there should not be, in any one private family, a convenient bathing-room. Perhaps, indeed, some ruined French refugee may have expended fifty dollars to furnish himself and family this luxury, as essential to comfort and cleanliness as to health.
In ten or twelve days I shall be on my way westward. My address, till further orders, is at Cincinnati, Ohio, to the care of the Hon. John Smith. As the objects of this journey, not mere curiosity, or pour passer le tems, may lead me to Orleans, and perhaps farther. I contemplate the tour with gayety and cheerfulness. The most weighty solicitude on my mind is your health and that of your boy. My letters have given you some advice as to yourself. You will have a letter from Pittsburg, and from other points as opportunities may offer, though I shall seldom be far from the route of some mail. God bless you