I am, with great esteem, sir,
Your most obedient humble servant.
TO LT. JOHN LOUIS DE UNGER.[97]
Richmond, November 30th, 1780.
Sir,—The letter which covers this, being of a public nature, I wished to acknowledge separately the many things personally obliging to me, expressed in your two letters. The very small amusement which it has been in my power to furnish, in order to lighten some of your heavy hours, by no means merited the acknowledgment you make. Their impression must be ascribed to your extreme sensibility rather than to their own weight. My wishes for your happiness give me participation in your joy at being exchanged, sensibly, however, alloyed by a presentiment of the loss I shall sustain, when I shall again be permitted to withdraw to that scene of quiet retirement, abstracted from which I know no happiness in this world. Your line of life must have given you attachments to objects of a very different nature. When the course of events shall have removed you to distant scenes of action, where laurels, not tarnished with the blood of my country, may be gathered, I shall urge sincere prayers for your obtaining every honor and preferment which may gladden the heart of a soldier. On the other hand, should your fondness for philosophy resume its merited ascendancy, is it impossible to hope that this unexplored country may tempt your residence by holding out materials wherewith to build a fame, founded on the happiness and not the calamities of human nature? Be this as it may, whether philosopher or soldier, I wish you many felicities, and assure you that I am, with great personal esteem, Sir,
Your most obedient, and most humble servant.
TO HIS EXCELLENCY GENERAL WASHINGTON.
Richmond, December 15, 1780.