LETTER CCLIV. From the same. Boston, Jan. 21, 1794. As to politics, we are in the clouds.- Pleased we were indeed with the revolution in France, in the first important stages of it; but, while we hope good may come out of the awful convulsion, we are disposed to weep-we weep plentifully over the calamities in which millions of innocent people are involved. We, in America, took an interested part in the great effort which the French made to break the yoke of oppression; and our happiness would have been exquisite, had our friends, who assisted in establishing our liberties, succeeded fully in their own country, and lived to enjoy the fruit of their labours. But, alas! where are they? Those whom we thought virtuous, and inspired with a proper zeal for the rights of man, were succeeded by the rash and violent, by whom they have been denounced and executed. If any thing has cooled the affections of the Americans, it has been the wild and extravagant conduct of the Jacobins, and the wanton, as it appears to many of us, the wanton execution of our friends-men with whom we were acquainted-who fought by our side, who rejoiced with us at our festivals, and whom we shall grate fully remember while their persecutors and murderers will be abhorred. You will pardon my warmth. I knew some of those men who have been disgraced and executed, and I cannot be easily convinced they deserved so hard a fate. J. L. Dear Sir, LETTER CCLV. From the same. Boston, Nov. 10, 1789. I think it was in the month of June last, I received your very obliging letter, together with the acceptable present, in books, which you was pleased to make me. I read your History of the Origin of Medicine with great pleasure; and am much indebted to you for the information which 1 have received from that learned performance. Doctor Goodwyn's Dissertation has certainly great merit. Having perused those valuable tracts myself, I put them into the hands of Dr. Windship, agreeably to your request, and also into the hands of other gentlemen of the faculty in my neighbourhood, that they may receive the same pleasure from them which they have given to me. We receive great satisfaction from an acquaintance with the ancients: many of their works will be read with delight, so long as genius and taste remain in the world: but I have often thought we have reason to be thankful that we were not born a thousand years ago. In connexion with what I have now said, I will send you a few sentences from a letter which I lately received from that venerable philosopher Dr. Franklin: in one of my letters to him I had made some observations on the improvement of the present age; and in his answer he says, "I have been long impressed with the same sentiments you so well express, of the growing felicity of mankind, from the improvements in philosophy, morals, politics, and even the conveniences of common living, by the invention and acquisition of new and useful utensils and instruments, that I have sometimes almost wished it had been my destiny to have been born two or three centuries hence, for inventions of improvement are prolific, and beget more of their kind. The present progress is rapid; many of great importance, now unthought of, will before that period be produced; and then I might not only enjoy their advantages, but have my curiosity gratified in knowing what they are to be. I see a little absurdity in what I have just written, but it is to a friend who will wink and let it pass; while I mention one reason more for such a wish, which is, that if the art of physic shall be improved in proportion with other arts, we may then be able to avoid diseases, and live as long as the patriarchs in Genesis, to which I suppose we should make little objection." The good sense and vivacity which this great philosopher discovers, now in the 84th year of his age, shew us that long life, under certain circumstances, may be very desirable. How long the power of medicine, in some future highly improved state of the art, may help to continue and make life comfortable, time only can discover. The friends of science and humanity are doing what they can, in this quarter of the world, to make improvements in the healing art, and to qualify young men to practise with more advantage than heretofore. A few days since I was in company with Mr. Jackson, a gentleman of learning and good taste; who was attending General Washington through this part of the country; and as I knew he would be pleased with the polite and truly classical eulogy which you give of that hero in your letter to me, I took the liberty to read it to him. Mr. Jackson was so pleased, that he insisted on having the letter a few days, that at some moment of leis sure he might read it to the General. I consented, because I knew the General himself must be pleased with the esteem of men of virtue and learning in other parts of the world. General Washington's visit to this part of the country was attended with so much parade, unsought indeed by him, and with such crowds to pay their respects to him, that he had very little time for any par ticular friends. Your sincere Friend, JOHN LATHROP. LETTER CCLVI. Dear Doctor, From the same. Boston, Nov. 13, 1799. Please to accept my thanks for the valuable present of the Natural History of the Tea Tree. The smaller works have afforded me instruction and refreshment. Reflections on Religious Persecution are excellent. I am convinced it is the will of God there should be a great variety of religious opinions, and that there should be a variety of ways in which men offer worship to the One Supreme and, with an honest heart, I think I can say, while I am satisfied with the way in which I have been educated, I love good men of all sects and denominations, as ardently as I love good men of my own. It is my belief that while God is no respecter of persons, all good men may agree in every thing necessary to their happiness. The great and noble ideas expressed in the closing part of the Reflections on Persecution, fill my soul with the most delightful expectations. What incalculable millions of beings are, every moment of time, |