Dartmouth March 16th. AD, 1767 Sr.,

I1 receiv'd your very kind letter of the fourth Instant,2 and the amiable verses Inclosed; some of which, are really Poetical painting; particularly the three first. The third verse I have some where read, and took it as an extract from Milton. Indeed they are all Miltonick, Picturesque, & Striking; and I am greatly obliged to you for the pains which you have taken, to give me the pleasure I have receivd in the perusal of them. That Juvenile production of mine, in answer to the fourth letter of the free Inquiry, &c. concerning moral evil; which you once desired to see, I will send you when I have leasure to transcribe it; Tho' it can give you no pleasure; it being but a very weak answer to the most absurd reasoning. The Revd. Mr. West3 has promiced to send me a very Judicious answer to the Berkleyan Principles, wrote By Mr. Reid.4 Mr. West has so far given in to the Principles inculcated by this book, that he almost doubts the truth of immaterialism. When I have read it through, I will let you know if I think the Author's reasoning Conclusive. However I do not think I am so good a judge of metaphysical reasoning as formerly; there is somehow, an aptitude in Our natures to contract the habits, & dispositions of those that surround us: at least there is in me, for the dull people, with whom only I am doom'd to converse, have forc'd me to receive on my mind the impression of so many absurd, Incoherent Ideas, that it is next to an Impossibility to dispose my thoughts in that regular manner close reasoning requires. I dont know why I say all this to you, unless it be to prove by example the last observation above. I am dear Sir your Sincere Friend and Humb. Servt.,

DAN HATHWAY

RC ; addressed: "To Robert Treat Paine Esqr. at Taunton"; endorsed.

1.

Daniel Hathway of Dartmouth, Mass., described himself as a "Practioner of Physick," when he assigned his power of attorney to RTP on Mar. 12, 1771 (RTP Papers). He later served as a surgeon during the Revolution (Mass. Soldiers & Sailors, 7:511, 529).

2.

Not located.

3.

Samuel West (1729/30–1807), a 1754 Harvard graduate and minister of the First Congregational Society of New Bedford. He was characterized in later life (1801) by Josiah Quincy as "celebrated for the strength and metaphysical acuteness of his mind . . . and not less remarkable for singular slovenliness and oddity of behavior" (Sibley's Harvard Graduates, 13:501–510).

4.

Thomas Reid, An inquiry into the human mind, on the principles of common sense (Edinburgh, 1764). Reid attributed his philosophy "not to genius but to 'time' and the arguments of Berkeley and Hume" (DNB).