I have received and read with great Pleasure, your modest Sensible, judicious and discreet Letter of the 31. of Septr.1

The Town of Boston is at present unhappily divided into political Parties, and neither Party I presume has tried Experiments enough upon you to discover to which Side you belong. You might very easily induce either Side to make much of you, by becoming a zealot for it: but my Advice to you is Nil Admirari Nil contemni. Admire neither Party—despize neither Party.2 Treat both Sides with Civility and respect but be the Devotee of neither. Be always on the side of 129Truth Justice Honour Virtue and public Spirit. Even S. may be of service to you if you keep him at a distance, and never put yourself in his Power.

The Youth you mention has considerable Advantages, but his Contempt will hurt him, not you. Let me tell you however, once for all, that however painful, the mortifications of Emulation may be, you must learn to bear them and be Superiour to them. You will see one, preferred to you for his Party, another for his Church, a third for his family connections a fourth for an unmeaning fluencey, a fifth for his figure Air, Gate. and some for their Profligacy and Debauchery—others for their Want of Principle. Let not those Things move you out of your Course.

In your Studies, you have yet to begin a system. from all I have Seen and read, I have formed an opinion of my own, and I now give it you as my Solemn Advice, to make yourself Master of the Roman Learning. Begin with Livy.— take your Book your Dictionary, your Grammar, your Sheet of Paper and Pen and Ink. begin at the Beginning and read the Work through— put down in Writing every Word with its meaning as you find it in Ainsworth. You will find it the most delightful Employment you ever engaged in. When you have finished the 35th. Book you will say, that you have learned more Wisdom from it than from five hundred Volumes of the trash that is commonly read.— The Writings of Cicero too, you should read in turn. When I Speak of reading I dont mean holding a book in hand and dreaming over it— take your Pen.—and make yourself Master of every Sentence.— By all means make yourself Master of the latin Tongue and that immediately. Polybius and Plutarch and Sallust as sources of Wisdom as well as Roman History, must not be forgotten, nor Dyonissius Hallicarnassensis.3 Read them all in Latin.— Nor would I by any means consent that you forget your Greek. keep it alive at least, and improve in it by degrees.

My Brother might Supply you with Wood from my Lots as well as Hay. I wish you to ask your Uncle, respectfully as becomes you, how the account Stands between him and me and what Articles he can supply you with on my Account. I will give you the whole Management of my Estate, if you will take it— Yet I will not urge it upon you— perhaps it may interrupt your Studies too much.

Above all Things keep up your Spirits and take Care of your Health.

I long to see you in your office: but the Care of a troublesome Removal to Philadelphia, will prevent me till next year.

Your Letters give me so much pleasure as well as Information that I wish you to write as often as you can to / your Affectionate

I wrote to you last Sunday, and on Wednesday received your kind Letter.1 we have begun to pack up our furniture, and expect to get it on Board by the 20th perhaps we may make it later, but I hope not as the weather will every day become more & more uncomfortable. the Idea of going so much further from you is painfull to me, and would be more so if I did not hope to Spend the next summer with you. at present you have your Family with and near you, but it is my destiny to have mine Scatered, and scarcly to keep one with us. my seperation from mrs smith is painfull to me on many accounts. there is at present no prospect of their going with us, and if their prospects here were as fair as they ought to be, I should be less solicitious for them. with Regard to our House, I should have no objection to a carefull person living in the kitchin to take care of it, but as to letting it I cannot consent unless any person offers to take House and furniture all together. there is the other part of the House in which Bass lives that might be let, but then I should be loth that a shoe makers shop should be made of either of the Rooms— in short I do not know of any persons property so unproductive as ours is. I do not believe that it yealds us one pr cent pr Annum I have the vanity however to think that if dr Tufts and my Ladyship had been left to the sole management of our affairs, they would have been upon a more profitable footing in the first place I never desired so much Land unless we could have lived upon it. the 131Money paid for useless land I would have purchased publick Securities with the interest of which poorly as it is funded would have been less troublesome to take charge of then Land and much more productive, but in these Ideas I have always been so unfortunate as to differ from my partner who thinks he never saved any thing but what he vested in Land. I am really however very uneasy with Pratt as a Famer. he has got a great swarm of helpless children round him, labours hard but has no skill and the place with the addition of veseys very little more than pays the taxes; I wish mr Beals could be induced to go upon it. the other place I know no more about than if it lay in the Moon. I have written to request that the saint Germain pears and the best Russet Apples may be sent to me. the communication between Boston and Philadelphia is so frequent that I should suppose their could be no difficulty in it.

I had the pleasure of assembling yesterday mr & mrs Storer mr & mrs Atkinson mr Charles George & mary storer col & mrs smith and miss Pegy Smith who all dined with me and I felt more like Home than I have ever done since I left Braintree. mr Adams mourns that he could not make a visit Northward this fall. we are well. Brislers family all got through the small pox with only a day or twos illness— present me affectionatly to all Friends I fear mr Cranch does not put on his flannel soon enough. I grow more and more in favour of the use of it and advise you to wear it next your skin make little waistcoats & put them on with the first comeing of cold weather. I[f] I had as much Spair Room in my stays as you have I would not be without them

poor mr Thaxter I am grieved for him—but who is without their troubles? thank God that a larger portion has not fallen to the Lot of your ever / affectionate Sister