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Oct 27 1782

My dear Sister

Tho a thousand perverse Circumstances have prevented my writing, I have not failed to sympathise with you both in yr Sorrow & yr joy - When I saw the name of Martin in the Newspaper, I trembled with the presentiment that the unhappy accident must prove a Wound to you. How severe that the delight which yr good Father must feel on yr return should be instantly turned into Sorrow by this calamitous Event!- but I rejoice in the Idea of the Consolation you received from the seasonable Visit of our Fair Friend, that happy Compound of rational Vivacity & chearful Religion!- I am glad that I could in any Shape contribute to yr Amusement, & am not a little Proud of the animated Praise, which you mutually lavished on my Work:

Blest be those Rhymes (Let none abuse
The Poem or its Maker)
Which could divert a weeping Muse
& move a silent Quaker!–