cause the
settlement of your residence in America would be saying, in
other words, that we two, the last remains of a family once
so numerous, are never more to meet upon this side of time.
My own health is very much broken up by the periodical
recurrence of violent cramps in the stomach, which neither
seem disposed to yield to medicine nor to abstinence. The
complaint, the doctors say, is not dangerous in itself, but
I cannot look forward to its continued recurrence, without
being certain that it is to break my health, and {p.200}
anticipate old age in cutting me short. Be it so, my dear
Tom--_Sat est vixisse_--and I am too much of a philosopher
to be anxious about protracted life, which, with all its
infirmities and deprivations, I have never considered as a
blessing. In the years which may be before me, it would be a
lively satisfaction to me to have the pleasure of seeing you
in this country, with the prospect of a comfortable
settlement. I have but an imperfect account to render of my
doings here. I have amused myself with making an addition to
my cottage in the country. One little apartment is to be
fitted up as an armory for my old relics and curiosities. On
the wicket I intend to mount your _deer's foot_[83]--as an
appropriate knocker. I hope the young ladies liked their
watches, and that all your books, stationery, etc., came
safe to hand. I am told you have several kinds of the oak
peculiar to America. If you can send me a few good acorns,
with the names of the kinds they belong to, I will have them
reared with great care and attention. The heaviest and
smoothest acorns should be selected, as one would wish them,
sent from such a distance, to succeed, which rarely happens
unless they are particularly well ripened. I shall be as
much obliged to you as Sancho was to the Duchess, or, to
speak more correctly, the Duchess to Sancho, for a similar
favor. Our mother keeps her health surprisingly well now,
nor do I think there is any difference, unless that her
deafness is rather increased. My eldest boy is upwards of
six feet high; therefore born, as Sergeant Kite says, to be
a great man. I should not like such a rapid growth, but that
he carries strength along with it; my youngest boy is a very
sharp little fellow--and the