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that falls to the common lot of Life I hope your Gratitude is proportionably excited.—On the summit of prosperity may you maintain your Candour, affability & readiness to oblige—at the same time support your own dignity & chearfulness, whatever adverse Circumstances you may meet while struggling on a Scene where if we act our part well we shall behold them as necessary Contingencies in the uniform plan of Government which has the happiness of a Universe in View. The description you have given of the good lady [??] Mr. Brown’s mother, has won my warm affection;—I love her from the double motive of Esteem for the many Virtues that adorn her Character & for her tenderness to my neice—with my most affectionate Compliments, ask her to write & tell me if Betsy is a good Girl—if she adorns the Conjugal State, & does honour to her Country & Friends;—such is her Understanding & Education that I think the answer must be in the Affirmative.— Tell Mr Brown when his inclination & circumstances coincide to make it Convenient to re-visit the western hemisphere he will find many friends to bid him welcome, but none with more sincerity than his & your affectionate aunt.— [no signature] Pilgrim Society, draft 1. Attributed by mow to Samuel Cooper, jo2’s classmate at Harvard. See History of the Rise, Progress, and Termination of the American Revolution (Boston: Larkin, 1805), 1:89. 2. This phrase appears in an epitaph for John Bradshaw, allegedly authored by Benjamin Franklin, which first appeared in the Pennsylvania Evening Post, December 14, 1775, and was reprinted in other newspapers, including the Boston Evening-Post of August 23, 1783. The context for the lines is a challenge to British authority over the colonies and a call to resistance. Charles I’s execution, says Franklin, was “[t]he most glorious example / Of unshaken virtue, love of freedom, and impartial justice, / Ever exhibited on the bloodstained theatre of human actions.” 70 to abigail smith adams [At the time of the first portion of this letter, April 1784, aa was in Braintree; Nabby Adams had recently visited the Warrens at Milton; and ja was still in Europe. However, in June, aa and her 174  to abigail adams, april 1784 daughter would sail to England, arriving in July 1784. Preceding them to Europe was ww, on his second voyage to that continent, who carried a letter from aa to ja. Now one of mow’s closest female friends and her most beloved son were overseas.] Milton Hill April 24 1784 After long expecting that pleasure, I was gratifyed four days ago by the receipt of a letter from my friend Mrs. Adams. I have so long answered in the negative when in all companies, the question has been asked, what no letters from your particular friend, that I have been obliged to make many apologies for your silence to prevent some unfavourable construction. I find by yours that you are not yet an European lady, that the splendour of a court does not yet obliterate the undissembled pleasure of society in a private circle of friends. You seem to wish for the afternoon interviews of your country, which custom has rendered an agreable hour. I assure you we miss you much at the little tea parties. This is a pleasure invented by Frenchmen, yet perhaps it is as rational as rope dancing & puppet shows. In the ramblings of the vissionary slumbers, I often visit the European shores. I have an interest there separate from my friend at Autuil. There I follow the footsteps of an amiable son, but I more frequently summon them all to the summit of Milton or the neighbouring hill. When I awake I wish to reallize the phantoms. Yet I acknowledge, I wish you here more for my own than for your sake. I think you must be exceedingly happy, though I believe more from your domestic than public connection. The affections of the former are strengthened by time, while the parade of the latter fatigues , and the glare of grandeur palls upon the eye, and after the novelty is worn off, it does not possess charms sufficient to wean us from the local attachments of early life. I do not wonder you are pleased with the theatrical entertainments in a country where the refined and elegant compositions must improve the taste, while the lively representation of character and the exhibition of great historical events lay open a wide field of amusement to the re...

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