perusal. If I can in any thing return the favor, it will give me much pleasure to do so. To Esq. I am sir, Yours, much obliged, A Note requesting the Payment of a small Debt. DEAR SIR-I must remind you that I still hold your due-bill for the sum of Fifty Dollars, and hope you will give it early attention, as I am just now much troubled for ready money. Yours, very truly, In answer to the above. DEAR SIR-I am happy in being able to inclose you the sum for which I have been already too long your debtor. Assuring you that unforeseen disappointments have been the sole cause of want of punctuality, Believe me, To Your obliged and faithful servant, Delaying the Payment of a Debt. SIR-I really must beg of you to defer the settlement of your account till after the middle of next month, when I shall be in a condition to meet your demand. Regretting that circumstances prevent my being more prompt in attention to your wishes, To Mr. I remain, Sir, Your obedient servant, Answer to a Letter soliciting a Loan. MY DEAR SIR,-I have just received your letter soliciting the loan of Twenty Dollars, and it gives me much pleasure that I have it in my power to be able to accommodate so old and valued a friend. I therefore lose no tine in forwarding you a check upon Messrs. for the above sum, in reimbursing which I beg you will suit your convenience, and thereby ( blige Your old and on Very sincere friend, An Invitation to a Private Dinner. DEAR ——: My old friend is coming to take dinner with me the-th, and I hope you will come and join us, at six o'clock. I know you are not partial to large parties, and trust you will think us two sufficient company. Yours, ever truly, То Esq. An Invitation to a Pic-nic Party. MY DEAR SIR-We are endeavoring to get up a small excursion to visit on the th of this month. Will you do us the favor of making one of our number? Mrs. —, and my family, send their compliments, and request me to mention that they have taken upon themselves the task of providing the "creature comforts" for that occasion, and trust that their exertions will meet with unanimous approval. Should you have no previous engagement for that day, and feel disposed to join our party, a carriage will be at your door by o'clock on morning; and believe me to be, My dear Sir, Yours, most sincerely, P. S.-The favor of an early answer will oblige. NOTES, CARDS, &c. Complimentary cards must always have the address, &c., at the bottom. An Invitation to Dinner. Mr. S.'s compliments to Mr. D., and will feel much pleasure in his company to dinner on Thursday next, at six o'clock. An early reply will oblige. Reply, accepting the Invitation. Mr. D. presents his compliments to Mr. S., and accepts with pleasure his invitation for Thursday next. Declining the Invitation. Mr. D. presents compliments to Mr. S., and much regrets that a previous engagement (or continual indisposition, or his unavoidable absence from town) will prevent him from joining Mr. S.'s party on Thursday next. LETTERS OF WM. COWPER AND OF DR. SAMUEL JOHNSON. Wm. Cowper to the Rev. John Newton. July 12, 1781. MY VERY DEAR FRIEND-I am going to send what, when you have read, you may scratch your head and say, I suppose, there's nobody knows, whether what I have got, be verse or not-by the tune and the time, it ought to be rhyme; but if it be, did you ever see, of late or of yore, ruch a ditty before? I have writ charity, not for popularity, but as well as I could, in hopes to do good; and if the reviewer should say, "To be sure, the gentleman's inuse wears Methodist shoes, you may know by her pace, and talk of grace, that she and her bard have little regard for the taste and fashions, and ruling passions, and hoidening play of the modern day; and though she assume a borrowed plume, and now and then wear a tittering air, 'tis only her plan to catch if she can the giddy and gay, as they go that way, by a production, on a new construction; she has baited her trap, in hopes to snap all that may come, with a sugar-plum." His opinion in this will not be amiss; 'tis what I intend my principal end; and if I succeed, and folks should read, till a few are brought to a serious thought, I should think I am paid, for all I have said and all I have done, though I have run, many a time, after a rhyme, as far as from hence to the end of my sense, and by hook or crook, write another book, if I live and am here another year. I have heard before, of a room with a floor laid upon springs, and such like things, with so much art, in every part, that when you went in, you were forced to begin a minuet pace, with an air and a grace, swimming about, now in and now out, with a deal of state, in a figure of eight, without pipe or string, or any such thing; and now I have writ, in a rhyming fit, what will make you dance, and as you advance, will keep you still, though against your will, dancing away, alert and gay, till you come to an end of what I have penned; which that you may do, ere Madam and you are quite worn out with jogging about, I take my leave, and here you receive, a bow profound, down to the ground, from your humble me, Wm. Cowper to Wm. Hayley, Esq. W. C. WESTON, April 23, 1793. MY DEAR FRIend and BrotHER-Better late than never, and better a little than none at all! Had I been at liberty to consult my inclinations, I would have answered your truly kind and affectionate letter immediately. But I am the busiest man alive; and when this epistle is dispatched you will be the only one of my correspondents to whom I shall not be indebted. While I write this, my poor Mary sits mute, which I cannot well bear, and which, together with want of time to write much, will have a curtailing effect on my epistle. My only studying time is still given to Homer, not to correction and amendment of him (for that is all over), but to writing notes. Johnson has expressed a wish for some, that the unlearned may be a little illumi nated concerning classical story and the mythology of the ancients; and his behavior to me has been so liberal that I can refuse him nothing. Poking into the old Greek commentators blinds me. But it is no matter, I am the more like Homer. Ever yours, my dearest Hayley, W. C. To Lady Hasketh. HUNTINGDON, Oct. 10, 1765. MY DEAR COUSIN-I should grumble at your long silence, if I did not know that one may love one's friends very well, though one is not always in the humor to write to them. Besides, I have the satisfaction of being perfectly sure that you have at least twenty times recollected the debt you owe me, and as often resolved to pay it; and perhaps while you remain Indebted to me, you think of me twice as often as you would do if th account was clear. These are the reflections with which I comfort myself nder the affliction of not hearing from you; my temper does not incline me to jealousy, and if it did, I should set all right by having recourse to what I have already received from you. I thank God for your friendship, and for every friend I have; for all the pleasing circumstances of my situation here, for my health of body, and perfect serenity of mind. To recollect the past, and compare it with the present, is all I have need of to fill me with gratitude; and to be grateful is to be happy. Not that I think myself sufficiently thankful, or that I shall ever be so in this life. The warmest heart, perhaps, only feels by fits, and is often as insensible as the coldest. This at least is frequently the case with mine, and oftener than it should be. But the mercy that can forgive iniquity will never be severe to mark our frailties; to that mercy, my dear cousin, I commend you, with earnest wishes for your welfare, and remain your affectionate W. C. Dr. Samuel Johnson to Miss Susanna Thrale. DEAREST MISS Susy-When you favored me with your letter, you seemed to be in want of materials to fill it, having met with no great adventures either of peril or delight, nor done nor suffered any thing out of the common course of life. When you have lived longer, and considered more, you will find the common course of life very fertile of observation and reflection. Upon the common course of life must our thoughts and our conversation be generally employed. Our general course of life must denominate us wise or foolish, happy or miserable. If it is well regulated, we pass on prosperously and smoothly; as it is neglected, we live in embarrassment, perplexity, and uneasiness. Your time, my love, passes, I suppose, in devotion, reading, work, and company. Of your devotions, in which I earnestly advise you to be very punctual, you may not perhaps think it proper to give me an account; and of work, unless I understood it better, it will be of no great use to say much; but books and company will always supply you with materials for your letters to me, as I shall always be pleased to know what you are reading, and with what you are pleased; and shall take great delight in knowing what impressions new modes and new characters make upon you, and to observe with what attention you distinguish the tempes, dispositions, and abilities of your companions. A letter may be always made out of the books of the morning, or talk of the evening, and any letters from you, my dearest, will be welcome to The formula at the close of a letter deserves considerable attention. The following forms, taken from the letters of distinguished writers, may prove useful and instructive: From Lady Russell: "In all circumstances I remain, Sir, your constantly obliged friend and servant." From Mr. John Locke: "I shall be very glad if, in this, or any other occasion, I may be able to do you any service; for with great sincerity and respect I am, Sir, your most humble servant." From Lord Shaftesbury: "So farewell. I am your good friend to serve you." From the same: "And so God prosper you." From the same: "Continue to inform me of your reading and of new books; and God be with you." From Dr. Doddridge: "Not merely in form, but with the utmost sincerity and tenderness of heart, I am, dear Sir, your most faithful and affectionate friend, and humble servant." From Nathaniel Neal: "I am, my dear and worthy friend, most faith fully and entirely yours." From Wm. Cowper: "Yours, my dear friend," "Yours ever," W. C. W. C. Affectionately yours," W. C. "Believe me, my dear friend, "I love you and yours; I thank you for your continued remembrance of me, and shall not cease to be their and your Affectionate friend and servant," |