Aprill 12th. 1758

With equall grief & reluctance I now take my Pen in hand to write to you1; for I cannot say which is greater the Grief with which I am oppressed or the sence I have of my Unability to express My Sympathy & condolance of the bereaving shock of Providence toward you.2 It was my Misfortune to hear Nothing of his illness which might prepare me for the Shock till I saw the Accot. in the News Paper, & here you will excuse my enlarging or giving Vent to my own Grief least it Should induce you who knew his Value so much more than I did to indulge An immoderate mourning for his loss. Yet in justness to his Memory Now dead, whose Penn was so valuable & so endear'd to me while alive I must say, that I at once felt the most complicated mixture of Sorrow that ever wrack'd my Bosom, I condol'd with my Country in its Civil & military Interests, with the Widow the Children, the Many engaged freinds the industrious labourer & the indigent Poor; but as I can not hope to express his good qualitys which those who were Most acquainted with him were best86knowing to, so I shall content my self with assuring you that I who so highly valued him while among us am not the last in bewailing him now he is departed. Indeed I am Sorry to freshen yr. Greif; by describing the vastness of yr. loss & complaining to you the Sympathy I feel, but I had rather that your Mourning should once more be brought to Mind. (Seeing there is so much Occasion for it) than that it should be with any justness be said that I could with Patience forbear to cast in my Sob to the common lamentings of one so justly & so extensively esteemed; & yet Madam I mean not to agravate yr. Greif; I rather intend to extenuate it, by shareing it where it belongs & perswade you not to monopolize to your self that Sorrow which many others who are affected in common with yr. self have a right to participate in; I know not what to say on this Occasion, too much in earnest, or not as well as enough equally hinder doing justice to a cause I would feign advance somewhat to blunt the Edge of your Greif & alleviate those Agonys which cannot benefit the dead, & as I have undertaken to condole with you, you'll excuse me if I observe to you that Nothing should affect us any further than we can make a wise improvement of it, to pay Honour to the Memory of those who were worthy to imitate their Virtues, to improve in their footsteps is the endeavour of every wise & Sober Mind & the true essence of all Mourning, but to lament & break the Heart with unconsolable Agonys, can yeild us no profit & is in no Shape our duty, seeing Life is but a tide in which we float & is continually wafting us on to the great Ocean of Eternity in this Life we are but as travailer on a Road where nothing is more uncertain than who will be our Companion & wt. our fare; but I must refrain; hoping that these sudden Sallies of my Mind labouring with Various Passions will serve to assure you that my Greif is unfeign'd; & my desire to alleviate the Gloom that must needs invest one of yr. Make and of yr. whole family are Sincere & that not altogether resulting from my regard to decese'd but also from my great Respect to yr. whole family, & I hope you will make no Scruple to be assured & practice upon it that if I can Any Ways assist you, I shall rejoyce in testifying the Honour I bear for the dec'd & my Regards for the Living; permit me then to conclude by wishing you the comfort & assistance of all your friends & the Consolation of him who is greater than all; & is a freind indeed together with restoration and confirmation of health to yr. family I subscribe,

Dft ; addressed: "To Madam Blanchard"; endorsed: "To Madm. B on the Death of her husband April 1758."

87 1.

Rebecca Hubbard Blanchard (1710/1–1774) (Stearns, Early Generations of the Founders of Old Dunstable, 7–8).

2.

Col. Joseph Blanchard (1704–1758) of Dunstable, died on Apr. 7, 1758 (ibid.).