quoted in the Letters. Nothing in an English paper was half so malignant. I have ventured on another publication, of no great bulk, which I shall entitle "The Doctrine of Phlogiston established, and that of the Composition of Water refuted." I have well considered all that my opponents have advanced, and feel perfectly confident of the ground I stand upon. In this definitive treatise I insert all that is contained in my former publications on the subject, with many new experiments. Though nearly alone, I am under no apprehension of defeat. I am not without hopes that the combined powers, having failed in their great attempt to crush the French, may give up the contest, and make a peace in the approaching winter. If so, depend upon seeing me, if I can afford to come. ** To my account of the reasons for leaving England I prefixed a motto from Petrarch. In a note to the present publication I introduce the following from the same: Exul ab Italia, furiis civilibus actus, Huc subii, partimque volens, partimque coactus. Hic nemus, hic amnes, hic ocia ruris amœni. Sed fidi comites absunt, vultusque sereni. Hoc juvat, hoc cruciat. Nihil illis dulce remotis.† This is exactly my situation. Were it not, however, for a very few names, I should hardly have a wish to see England. I am much concerned at the situation in which I learn from your last my daughter was at Bristol; but the excellent treatise on consumption by Dr. Beddoes, under whose care she is, gives me hopes. If she die, she will be removed from much care and sorrow. This consideration, and that of her excellent character, will do much towards reconciling me to the event. There are many things in life more affecting than death. * See W. XV. 519. ↑ By civil feuds exiled my native home, I am thankful for an excellent state of health, and hope I do not make a bad use of it. May God preserve you and Mrs. Lindsey to me and to the world.* DEAR SIR, To MR. RUSSELL.+ Northumberland, Feb. 7, 1800. WHEN you see my political pamphlets, you will see my reasons for the publication. What we printed here, Mr. Jefferson informs me, were all sold in a day or two, and Chancellor Livingston, of New York, says, he has printed an edition at Albany. I think it probable that a new edition will be printed at Philadelphia; so that you will easily get them. I hear there is an answer at New York; but I have not yet seen it. I shall hardly be tempted to do any thing more of this kind; but I do not repent of what I have done. I shall be glad to see you. As to your proposal, it cannot take effect, if it be to remove from this place. If you were here, you would see that, some very extraordinary occurrence excepted, I am fixed for life. Mr. Jefferson writes to consult me about the plan of a new college, which the State of Virginia is going to establish and endow. They design to have professors from Europe. If any thing would draw me from this place, it would be something of that kind; but I am too old, and the expense and loss of time attending it would be too much for me. Removals have always unhinged me for a long time, and now I am better settled than ever, as you will see, whenever you come. I am concerned to find that they are again unsettled in France; but they must be distressed in England, especially by the bad harvest and seed-time. If our difficulties and troubles in this life promote our preparation for a better, as they tend to do, we must not complain of them.+ * Orig. MS. + Middletown. ↑ Orig. MS. TO REV. T. LINDSEY.* DEAR FRIEND, Northumberland, March 6, 1800. I HAVE very lately received two letters from you, one dated Oct. 25, and the other Oct. 31, 1797, so irregular is the conveyance of letters to this country; and the inconvenience can hardly be removed till there be a peace in Europe. Of this, however, we are not altogether without hope this winter. All parties must surely be tired of a war, by which nothing can be gained, and the defection of the Russians must dispose the emperor to peace; after this, England will hardly continue the war at such an expense alone. I have been writing a Dissertation on the Knowledge of a Future State among the Ancient Hebrews; and I think I have shewn that there are unquestionable references to it in many parts of the Old Testament. If your Commentaries and Essayst be open, I should be glad to have it printed there. I shall send it to you the first opportunity, and dispose of it as you please. I did not use to be of the opinion I have now adopted; but I now think it demonstrable, as far as a thing of this kind is capable of it. The situation of my daughter affects me much; I never before so much wanted, but I can also say, I never before so much felt, the consolations of religion. In this respect, I hope the troubles with which I have been visited have been of use to me. I think less of this world than ever, and more of another.‡ DEAR SIR, TO REV. T. BELSHAM. § Northumberland, March 30, 1800. I REJOICE to hear that you have thought of publishing your Sermons on the Christian Doctrine of a Future Life. There is no subject so interesting. I have just finished a tract on the Knowledge of a Future State among the Ancient Hebrews. With a view to improve my Church History, I have read Robinson's" Ecclesiastical Researches," and find more in it * Essex Street. ↑ See I. 394, ad fin. 1 Orig. MS. § Hackney. than I expected, with many repetitions and superfluities. He must have taken much pains in reading books that come into few hands. He had them from the libraries of the universities. In this respect the clergy have a great advantage over the dis senters. The last parcel of books contained the Missionary Voyage to Otaheite, to which you refer. It is pity that so much zeal should not be accompanied with more knowledge; but some wise end, unseen by us, may be answered by the prevailing bigotry. Here it reigns uncontrolled. I have, however, found some young men of a serious and inquisitive turn, who read my works, and are confirmed Unitarians. By their means light is diffused; and I do not now despair of an Unitarian society being established in this place in a reasonable time. The society of our Unitarians at Philadelphia, I understand, does not increase, which gives me much concern. They have had some differences among themselves, and they want a sufficient number of good readers, though some of them I thought excellent. They have also lost many valuable men lately by the yellow fever. This fever is a dreadful scourge to this country; but hitherto it has been confined to the sea-ports. It already makes Philadelphia a most undesirable place of residence. Rents of houses are fallen at least one-third. This disorder is nearly as destructive as the plague in the east. I want you to give me some account of an answer to my History of Early Opinions by a Mr. Johnston, in Scotland.* I see it spoken well of in the Annual Register. As I am old and out of the way, I must depend upon you for every thing that used to be expected of me. Your account of Apeleutherus† does not much excite my curiosity, let who will be the writer, or writers of it. I beg my respectful compliment to Mr. Livius, and thanks for his intended present, but I have not yet heard of its arrival. I am interested in every thing relating to the propagation of Christianity in any form, and no sect has done so much in this way as the Moravians; I admire their patience and perseverance. * See supra, p. 380. ↑ See N. A. Reg. XXI. 231. I rejoice in the success of your preaching and lectures, though I sometimes think you would do better to confine the latter to elementary instruction, as you might then have more young people. By admitting the old, I found at every outset in that way, that I excluded the young. We have just heard of the Revolution in France, in which Buonaparte acts a principal part, and what to think of it we cannot tell. The federal party here, who are the enemies of the French, triumph in it; but I hope, without reason. I cannot believe that any turn of events will restore monarchy in France, or reinstate the popes in their temporalities; and if those two horns of the beast fall, the rest must follow. It is true, as you observe, that we are apt to overrate the importance of the events of our own times; but surely they are of peculiar magnitude compared with any preceding ones since the writing of the Revelation.* DEAR SIR, To MR. RUSSELL.† Northumberland, April 3, 1800. THE same post that brought me your letter, brought me one from, remonstrating in such a manner against my Letters, as if I had committed the sin against the Holy Ghost. Now I think it is a great reflection on any country, and the government of it, if any man, even without the provocation that I have received, cannot publish his objections to any public measures, when he does it without acrimony or ill humour, which I am sure I neither felt nor expressed. I am glad that you have read them with different eyes. They have been of service to me in this neighbourhood, which was my first object, and I shall hardly trouble the country again in the same way. As to their publication's preventing the circulation of my theological writings, I do not think it can possibly make any difference. When I published proposals for printing my Church History by subscription three years ago, I got only * Orig. MS. + Middletown. |