"Be pleased, at the same time, to accept for yourself personally, and to convey to the members of the Board, the assurance of the deep sense I entertain of the obligations you have laid me under, as well as in behalf of my son as in my own; and that you may at all times command any service which it may be in my power to render as friends of the important institution under your care.
"Very respectfully, Rev. and dear sir, yours,
"J. EMORY."
"To the Rev. John Early,
Chairman, etc.. of the Board of Trustees of Randolph-Macon College, Va."
"New York, November 3, 1831.
"REV. AND DEAR SIR: Yours of the 15th ultimo was duly received, and would have elicited an earlier reply but for the absence of my father, whom I wished to consult previously to communicating my own views of the subject.
"I take, however, the earliest opportunity after his return to express through you, to the Board of Trustees, the high sense which I entertain of the flattering honor which they have been pleased to confer upon me, and at the same time my regret for the necessity which I am under of declining its acceptance.
"My anxiety to prosecute thoroughly and with an undivided attention the study of a profession is such that neither my desire to promote the interests of education, nor even the temptation of the honorable post which you have offered me, and the agreeable society which I should enjoy in Virginia, are sufficient to withdraw me from a course in which my father has had the kindness to yield me his acquiescence. With the best wishes for the prosperity of your institution, and a hope that you may secure for it the services of one whose ability (though certainly not his desire) to serve you will be far greater than mine, I remain with great respect,
"Yours, &c., R. EMORY.