Hayley-XII-9

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Eartham Wednesday
Jan 10 1782

My dear Sister

I devote the first minutes of this Morning to the pleasing office of thanking you for an enchanting Pacquet of verse & prose, which reached Eartham last night - so far from convincing me, that your poetic Imagination is exhausted your lovely little Poem has confirmed me in the Idea, that no poetical Task is too great for you. – She \who/ could write such spirited lines in the drawling unpoetic motion of a returning Chaise, & on such a subject, must never think of pleading the want of poetic Powers, as an Excuse for Indolence.

In Truth you have all the Qualities of Mind & Heart, that constitute the true Poet; & I shall never cease exciting you to the full exertion of yr delightful Talents, in some great & noble Poem, that may afford you an ample Field for the display of all

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the Powers, which I am sure you possess.

I have ordered the Spanish Poem on Music, which I mentioned to you & as soon as it can be got, I will inform you how far it may serve as a Foundation for the work I wish you to execute —— I hope yr letter from Robinson was a pleasing one, as Longinus told me He seemed flattered by yr application to Him, & I rejoice in the prospect of seeing yr charming Elegy so soon in Print – as to my long & lumbering Work, Heaven knows when it will appear — The Transition is so woeful from revising yr attractive Poetry with its fair Authress, to writing, in Solitude, dull notes on my own verses, that I have no Spirit to begin this drudgery - & I have indeed at present much epistolary Business on my Hands, & a visit to pay to my little Indian Hero at Portsmouth; to which place Sandino, the beloved Physician, has promised to attend me on Friday – I had a short note from our young Soldier last night, to say, that He had just received the fair Muse’s enchanting recommendatory illeg letter, which He should

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present to his Colonel the moment He returned from a Trip to London - & the martial youth Entreats me to express our mutual obligations to you in the warmest Language of Gratitude

But Language, that superfluous Test!
Need not its powers employ
To speak what you have seen exprest
In Tears of tender joy —

Let me thank you however for the inclosed copy of yr Sonnet! & I shall thank you for this favor in the Scottish style, by asking another: I cannot part with the Copy you have kindly sent me, & I wish for another to present to a fair Friend, who will value it the more for being in the Muse’s own Hand——

Had I not received yr kind letter last night, I should still have scribbled to you today, to inform you of my safe arrival at my Hermitage. - my return appears to me quite providential, for I arrived just in Time to act as Physician & Apothecary to a poor female domestic whom I found most wretchedly ill with a violent bilious disorder. The good Euryclea had dispatched a messenger for Sandino

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but I reached Home before 4 on Sunday, & luckily Administered at that Hour the very Medecine [sic] which our Physician, illeg, who was abroad, could not send over till 9 the same Evening – Indeed the sight of me did the poor Patient some service, for all my domestics are foolish enough to think, that they are much securer from death, when their master is at Home, than when He is abroad, & there is so much affection in this Folly, that I am myself fool enough to be pleased with it - my Gardiner [sic] once lost a fine little Boy, while I was absent, & on my return, as I endeavoured to console Him, the poor Fellow burst into Tears & said: “ah Sir!” if you had been at Home, I should not have lost Him” — My sick Handmaid has I believe been a little indebted to this foolish Confidence in her Master^s medical skill, for her hasty recovery; for recovered She is in a great degree, tho still very weak & languid & most wretchedly emaciated since I set out for the North — my old Woman however is more blooming than ever, & the dear little adopted Alphonso is all Life & Spirit – His Eye did not at first recollect me, & He stared at me as a stranger, but the moment I addressed Him in my usual Language, He flew to me & expressed his delight at my return by a thousand little whimsical Endearments of the most engaging Nature.

Adieu I frequently in Idea transport myself to those scenes yr Verses so sweetly describe - would I could as quickly do so in reality - God bless you - Farewell & believe me ever yr affec

WH