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59 to winslow warren Plimouth January 18 1781 If I have not been Remarkably unfortunate in the Conveyance you must have found so many letters to your direction on your arrival in Holland as might make it appear almost unnecessary again to take up my pen. But while you my son are absent and I am able to grasp a Quill, I shall Neglect no opportunity to gratify the wishes I know you feel to hear from so dear & so tender a friend. But if most of them, as is probable, are Devoted to the oozy Nymphs who Attend the Watery God below it may serve as an Interlude , amidst the variety of political packages, consigned to their perusal in these Days of danger And uncertainty. Thus while Rough Neptune (by his fiercer Emissaries) the shaggy Titans , continues to impede the opperations of Mars & interrupt the Regular Communications which might accelerate the plans of War, Conquest, and Independence, I fear it will be Long before that Fabled Bloody Deity will be obliged to sheath his Hostile sword. But I would wish this might Escape the Eye of Every Female Inquisitor, Either above or Below, the Wide stretched, sea green Carpet that separates us at present. Nor am I less apprehensive of the prying politition who suspecting treason by Every Gale peeps into the most trifling scrip in hopes of pressing into the service of his system. But if any Rude Hand shall break the seal of this, I hope when he sees the simple Nature & Design therof he will not be so irritated by his Disappointment as to retard its progress to you. Yet I am still more solicitous for the safe Reception of yours for to the tender anxieties of fond affection, Expectation of Amusement is added to my Wishes while I wait for accounts from Europe. Your observations, your feelings, your sentiments must be Replete with Entertainment as you travil through countrys where the Grand of Nature is Exhibited in the most striking forms & the Works of art have been improving for so many centuries under the Industrious hand of Man. Where as a celebrated writer Expresses it, “There are forms that would awe an Atheist into Belief without the help of other Argument. Where not a precipice , not a Torrent, not a Cliff but is pregnant with Religion & poetry.”1 The Hand of Nature is at once so sublime And so Bold that it often Arrests our Contemplations when in the full Career of very different pursuits . And Frequently when we only mean to Entertain the Eye with the 150  to winslow warren, january 1781 ornaments of Life, Beautifyed in the highest Elegance of Taste, she throws some object in the way that leads the mind to the superior Pleasure of contemplating its Origin & Duration & thus the Heart is made better while Reason is Delighted & improved, an advantage which a participation in the choicest Luxuries of Life seldom bestows. But though the Majesty of Nature commands the Attention And her innumerable Graces charm the soul, who can but smile at her Blind yet Fashionable Votaries who stop & pay a kind of Homage to the Vestiges of Deity, Instead of Raising their Adorations to the Being who sheds but faint traces of Himself in the Various Dresses with which He condescends to Adorn this Modern Goddess. But shall the Happy season when the gay & the agreeable who possess Every Faculty be clouded by Moral Lectures. Shall sober speculation be always obtruded? Does my Good Mother forget that too much Moralizing tires And too much Reasoning often chills the mind? No My son, nor does she forget that she is writing to one not apt to be Wearied if the page is protracted that bears him at once the cares, the affection , the hopes, the fears, the precepts, & the prayers of a Heart Glowing with that kind of Friendship which admits no Dissimulation & precludes Apology. And I dare say you would be Disappointed if you did not find in a corner of Each letter some premonition that cannot injure the most Gaurded Discreet youth. It would not be prudent to transmit to you all that might give Entertainment to the inquisitive in such a critical Era as the present. You will Doubtless hear Many Exaggerated accounts from this Quarter of the World. You may perhaps hear our Generals have Revolted, our army Disaffected, our Medium sunk & public credit Destroyed. Thus sing the Enemies of America , and thus sighs Avarice And groans out his concern for...

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