Smoking Lecture. You perhaps are not aware of the universal prevalence of this nasty custom. Upon nice estimation it was found that seventy thousand dollars were consumed in New York, in one year, in cigars. Dr. Ramsay, the historian, republished my lecture in the newspapers, and added his own masterly pen to my feeble pages; and Rush and Mitchill added to it the weight of their approbation. I received innumerable letters from various parts of the Union in consequence of this simple publication. A short but neatly complimentary one from our Chief Magistrate I shall transcribe for its Ciceronian elegance: "THOMAS JEFFERSON to Dr. WATERHOUSE: "Legerat hujus amor titulum nomenque libelli; "So Ovid introduces his book Remediorum Amo"ris. A Lecture against Tobacco was calcu"lated to excite a similar alarm in a Virginian, "and cultivator of tobacco. However, being a "friend neither to its culture nor consequences, "I thank you for the pamphlet, and wish a suc"cessful opposition to this organ of Virginia in"fluence, as well as to every other, injurious to "our physical, moral, or political well-being. "Accept my friendly and respectful salutations. 66 Washington, March 3, 1805." B. W. * A well-known and even hackneyed phrase in New England, introduced by Jefferson's enemies. LETTER CCLXVII. From the same. Dear Doctor, Cambridge, May 8, 1810. What a tedious length of time has elapsed since I had a line from you, or indeed, any of my old friends and correspondents in England! Our nonintercourse has operated as cruelly on friendship as on trade. The commerce of both has suffered by it; but I hope both will again revive with an increased vigour, so as to make up in energy what has been lost by time. Where is Jenner? and where is Ring? There is, I hope, no embargo on their friendship. They, I hope, as well as yourself, have not passed any non-intercourse resolutions with their trans-atlantic friend. Be assured yourself, and tell them, that I must still be allowed to send you my "raw materials," to be worked up by you all into those fine fabricks, which bear so high a price in every market of the civilized world. Are you aware that I have scarcely seen a sample from you these two years? For the honour of my country I am ashamed to tell Dr. Jenner how I have been treated by our legislature respecting remuneration. I have received nothing but abuse; nay, more, I have been intrigued out of my place, as Physician to the United States Marine Hospital, worth £500 sterling a-year, and given me, by Mr. Jefferson, as a reward for my labours in Vaccination; and this merely in consequence of his going out of office and others coming in; so that, at 56 years of age, I have now to contrive and execute some new plan to supply this deficiency. I propose to quit my quiet retreat in Cambridge, and move into Boston, there to give my Lectures on Natural History and on Medicine; for here, the Botanist I formerly spoke of has been forced into my place. Were I a single man, and without children, I would go to England; if not to live there, at least to die there. You do not knock a man on the head in Britain because he exerts himself more than his neighbours do. The history of your mineral cabinet would make you weep. If I have my health, and can hold a pen, you and the public shall know the whole of it. Sometimes, one man influences and impels the sentiments and conduct of the public. I am not calculated by nature or habit to combat intrigue. The two parties in Massachusetts, the one called Federalists, or the English party, and the other Republicans, have been most curiously balanced. The latter party now predominates, and the partizans of England are daily losing ground. The English party have been too confident, and too violent. They have pulled the string so hard as to break it. John Bull is a strong but violent animal; Buonaparte must make an ox of him before he can tame him to his hand. To compensate for embargoes and non-intercourse with England, a spirit of manufacturing has come to our assistance. Almost every ship from Spain or Portugal, brings us the Merino sheep. Forty-four arrived in one vessel, at Boston, a few days since. Some of which have been sold for one thousand dollars a-head! If we go on, as we have begun, we shall, in a year or two, be able to export Hispanico-American wool to England. While one party is vociferating that we cannot live without England, the other are trying to demonstrate that we can. While one depreciates our resources, the other extols them to the skies. Wisdom fixes her approbating eye on the line between both these extremes of party. France commonly magnifies our power, while the English delight to minify it. We have something in the physical line somewhat alarming. The spotted fever, so called, has appeared here and there in Connecticut, and in Massachusetts. Several have died of it in less than 24 hours. Two perished as speedily as that within a mile of my dwelling. It has appeared in high and dry situations, as well as in low and damp ones. Is not this the plague? Those who have died in this neighbourhood, appear to have perished as if by some subterraneous effluvia, rather than from a malignant state of the common air. Near upon, and after death, the sufferer appears spotted. Men, women, and children especially, have been cut off in a few hours, by this strange distemper. What author has treated of such a disorder? It differs widely from the yellow fever. It seems to merit the name of a poison rather than a fever. I suspect that my manuscript sent to you has been stolen by some governmental emissary. Is it not a fact, that the British Government are disposed to suppress every book that contains such an account of America as would induce their mechanics and farmers to emigrate hither? I have heard some curious anecdotes to that purpose, which tend to strengthen my suspicion. Should an opportunity occur, do not fail to write to Your affectionate Friend, BENJAMIN WATERHOUSE. LETTER CCLXVIII. From the same. My Dear Friend, Cambridge, July 15, 1810. This will, I hope, be delivered to you by my friend the Rev. Thadeus Mason Harris, minister of the first parish in our old town of Dorchester, near Boston. Mr. Harris is a man of sense and science, and was three or four years Librarian of this University. You will find few men, from this |