University of Virginia Library

LETTER XXXIX.

Your letter of the 8th reached me this morning. I
had anticipated your mortification at the sight of mine, and
the translation enclosed in it; nor have I been disappointed.
You, my son, I trust, will acquit me of any unnecessary or
wanton injury to your feelings, which I would forbear to
wound, as if they were my own. It is only to heal, that I
would probe. I confidently expect, therefore, by the next
post, a proof of the good effect of your own judicious reflections
upon the disagreeable subject of my last. Your

own good sense, my dear boy,—if you give it fair play,—
backed by industry, will ensure you a competent degree of
proficiency in whatsoever pursuit you may engage. But, to
choose a more agreeable theme:—I am glad to hear, from
your cousin Judy, that you did not so suffer from the cold on
your journey from Clifton, but that you have been able to
enjoy the fine exercise of skating since your return home.
You will not fail, I hope, to harden yourself by active exposure
in the open air, against the diseases to which a sedentary
life is subject. This may be done without intrenching
too much on study. "Omne tulit punctum, qui miscuit
utile dulci." May you, my dear boy, who are a great
marksman, hit this happy medium. I write under considerable
indisposition, and with two gentlemen talking around
me, and often TO ME. I must, therefore, ask your excuse
for my incoherence, and abrupt conclusion.