I shall get the speech, no thanks to you; there is a copy in Philadelphia, for which I have written, and it will come endorsed by the fair hand of Celeste: truly her hand and arm are handsome. I did not see her on my way through—tant mieux; for I took great affront; thence ensued explanations, &c. Nothing like a quarrel to advance love. La Planche I did see twice in one day; the last a long, very long visit. Lovely in weeds. La G., of whom you inquire, is of the grave age of forty-six; about the age of the vice-president.
They are very busy here about an election between Morgan Lewis and A. Burr. The former supported by the Livingstons and Clintons, the latter per se. I would send you some new and amusing libels against the vice-president, but, as you did not send the speech, nor did even acknowledge the receipt of one of the many public documents which I took the trouble of forwarding, it may be presumed that this sort of intercourse is not desired.
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.