Memoirs of Aaron Burr Part 97

I am extremely anxious to hear from you. When we parted you were engaged in talking over a bargain with Mr. Astor. Pray tell me the event of your deliberations. I had almost forgotten to tell you that we have every prospect of a capital crop.

THEODOSIA.

TO THEODOSIA.

New-York, November 7, 1803.

Your letter from Chester was received in due time; that from Was.h.i.+ngton came only yesterday, having lain there fourteen days before it was put into the office. By this time you must have received all those which I have written to you since your departure--not a single one. This is the first time that I have put pen to paper at you; but I have been too busy, selling. All is sold, and well sold; not all, however. The house, outhouses, and some three or four acres remain.

Enough to keep up the appearance, and all the pleasant recollections of your infantine days, and some of your matronly days also, are reserved with interest. This weighty business, however, is completed, and a huge weight it has taken from the head and shoulders, and every other part, animal and intellectual, of A. B.

Mr. M'Kinnon wrote me, last June, a letter, which I received a few days ago, and with it came two shawls or cloaks (a kind of worked muslin, all the rage in Paris and London at that date), some visiting cards, and ornamented message paper. Half his letter is to you and of you. He begs you to accept one of the shawls, and to give Frances the other. I executed his instructions by giving F. one. Surely it is not worth while to send the other to the Oaks for the admiration of your Africans. It is, in my opinion, beautiful; though, at first sight, I thought so little of it that I was going to give it to Peggy or Nancy.

Of the cards I enclose a sample.

If little _gamp_ could read, I should write to him volumes. I find my thoughts straying to him every hour in the day, and think more of him twenty fold than of you two together. Mrs. Laight and child are well.

They move to town in six or eight days. Anna is well. Cath. C. la la.

A. BURR.

TO THEODOSIA.

New-York, November 22, 1803.

My last went by water, in care of young Gibbs, the baker's son, with the curricle box, and some other articles which I have forgotten. The letter contained some samples of M'Kinnon's present. The shawl is still retained as being too precious to be sent by sea or land. Is this right?

Mr. Astor left with me some days ago for Mr. Alston a very beautiful map of Lower Canada, price _ten_ dollars, and two views of Montreal and its vicinity, _two guineas_. I am particularly charged by Mr.

Astor to inform Mr. Alston that his landlord at Montreal paid to him (Mr. Astor), for the account of Joseph Alston, Esq., the sum of _one half guinea_; the said landlord having discovered, after the departure of the said Joseph Alston _et ux_., that they had not taken with them two bottles of Madeira wine which the said landlord had charged in the bill of the said Joseph Alston, and for which he had received payment.

Thus I have discharged myself of a commission which has been enjoined upon me at least ten times.

Roger Morris's place, the large handsome house on the height beyond Mrs. Watkins, is for sale. I can get it for Richmond Hill with _four_ acres. Shall I exchange? R. M.'s has one hundred and thirty acres. If I leave Richmond Hill, however, had I not better buy in town, that you may have a resting-place there ? Dear little _gampy_; tell me a great deal about him, or I shall not value your letters. Indeed, I will return them unopened. Is not that good Irish?

Mr. Law has arrived. Miss Wheeler [1] is also at Was.h.i.+ngton, and A. B.

at New-York-_tant mieux_. Would you think it? I have been coquetted by a rich widow, and really I had some thoughts of yielding.

Jerome Bonaparte is here, and he will keep me three days to dine him.

We have exchanged visits, but have not yet met. I think I have mixed up here every thing I have to say to T. B. A. or J. A. No one word of politics; but, on further reflection, Mari will be at Columbia when this arrives.

A. BURR.

TO THEODOSIA.

Was.h.i.+ngton, December 4, 1803.

I arrived this afternoon, and found here your three letters from Petersburgh, Lumberton, and Georgetown. The last is dated the 2d of November. How very long ago. These letters are very satisfactory, except on the article of your health; of that you must speak a little more plainly. How long are you to stay in Charleston? Without knowing this, I am at a loss where to address you. I shall conclude that you will remain there till the return of Mr. Alston from the legislature.

The manner of your letters pleases me "prodigiously." There is ease, good sense, and sprightliness. That from Petersburgh merits still higher encomium. Tell dear little _gampy_ that I have read over his letter a great many times, and with great admiration. Mrs. Law, to whom I showed it, thinks it a production of genius.

That good and ill fortune never come in single strokes, but in sequences, you have heard since you were four years old. Since we parted I have been almost daily surprised by some pleasant occurrence or discovery of a personal nature. I pray it may continue a little longer; even till a bust is found and obtained.

Mrs. Law was vexed and mortified beyond measure at missing you. She has bid me say more things than this sheet would hold. The Misses Butler are all here. I shall see them to-morrow. Mary Allen, that was, now Mrs. Livingston; that beautiful little Miss Gray, whom we saw in Boston; she became Mrs. Dobel, then a widow, and now Mrs. Payne.

At Philadelphia Mrs. Lenox and K. almost quarrelled with me for your pa.s.sing their gate without calling. They had made some preparation, and, in good faith, desired your visit. Miss Boadley, too, talked of you with great interest. At Wilmington I saw no one of your acquaintance; nor at Baltimore, except Susan Smith, who is there on a visit from Princeton.

To go back to New-York. All things are much as you left them, except that what regards gamp is a good deal better. Mrs. Laight, and child, and sisters all in good condition and in high spirits. Have already been dancing--I believe twice. At Mrs. General G.'s I met by accident Mrs. Rogers. She is a pleasant, cheerful, comely woman, to appearance not past thirty-eight or forty. You know we had heard otherwise.

Eustis has sprained his ankle, which puts him, for the present, out of the gay world. I have not been abroad except to dine with Mrs. L. I am rejoiced at what you tell me of La Gree.

Pray take immediately in hand some book which requires attention and study. You will, I fear, lose the habit of study, which would be a greater misfortune than to lose your head. M'Kinnon has sent me out a beautiful picture of the celebrated Madame Ricammier. It is a good deal like your pretty widow, Mrs. Wright. _Bon soir_.

A. BURR.

FROM THEODOSIA.

Charleston, November 19, 1803.

All your trouble, good precepts, and better example have been thrown away on me. I am still a child. Your letter of the 7th inst. reached me yesterday. Of course it made me very happy; but those pretty little playthings from D. M'Kinnon delighted me. I looked at them over and over, with as much pleasure as a miser over his h.o.a.rd. But you must send me the shawl. I shall be down at the races, and want to have the gratification of displaying it.

From my date and my last letter you imagine that Natalie is in town, but you are mistaken. I came down in the hope of meeting her, and to buy some furniture for the Oaks. Mari on business. I return to Waccamaw to-morrow morning early. My husband left me to-day for Columbia. He received your letter too late to answer it hence, but will do so from Columbia. As for me, I am in the height of bustle and confusion. Before seven this morning I had packed up two or three trunks, and unpacked them all again. Is not that industry? I write as if I were in a hurry. You may perceive the state of my head and house from the style of my letter. More from Hagley. Good-by.

THEODOSIA.

TO THEODOSIA.

Was.h.i.+ngton, December 6, 1803.

Since closing a letter to you last evening, I have received two more, 8th and 19th of November. You are a good girl to write so often. Oh, yes! I knew how much of a child you were when I sent the pretty things. Just such another child is _son pere_.

I write from my breakfast-table, having not yet been abroad, and having denied myself to everybody. I have, therefore, nothing now to say, and should not so soon have _troubled_ you again, but for that part of your letter which speaks of the condition of your house. I hasten to say that, in my opinion, your house will not be a fit or healthy residence for your boy before the middle of April or 1st of May. The walls may, to the touch, appear dry in three or four weeks; but shut up any room for twelve or twenty-four hours, and enter before it be aired, you will meet an offensive, and, as I believe, a pernicious effluvia; an air totally unfit for respiration, unelastic, and which, when inhaled, leaves the lungs unsatisfied. This is the air you will breathe if you inhabit the house. I could, perhaps, show chymically how the atmosphere of the closed rooms becomes thus azotic, but I prefer to submit to the test of your senses.

The shawl shall be ordered on, since you will risk it. Yes, go to the races, and appear to be amused. Be more social.

A. BURR.

TO THEODOSIA.

Was.h.i.+ngton, December 9, 1803.

When any thing amuses me, my first thought is whether it would not also amuse you; and the pleasure is but half enjoyed until it is communicated. The enclosed has suggested this prologue.