Cambridge March 20 1748 Dear Sister Eunice,

I Esteem the faculty of good Inditement so great an Endowment that I would very willingly do wt. I can to put you upon the practice of it wch. will in time render it easy & familiar to you & as I'm sensible you want nothing but practice so I can but think you to blame for so neglecting; A good & free run of Expressions in Inditing is wt. every one is not master off, tho' they may flow never so quick in Talking yet often times wn. they are to be reduced to any form & method and they leave them att once & so they are forced to do wth. tongue wt. Nature has nott made them capable off doing wth. Pen; & I think the Reason is plain & good. For if we do but take a criticall Notice of the Conversation of great talkers we shall for the most part find that if their words were regist'red in Black & White t'would grate a Rustic Ear to hear them redd. And the Reason why we do nott percieve it generally is because they are deliver'd quick & perhaps wth. something of an Air too; And so the mind is Unable to veiw the discourse together (wch. would be too harsh a Criticism for Common Talkers); but only observes it peicemeal wch. may go down pretty well. Yr. Well-bred Ladies of fashion, such as don't much trouble their pens; know little more of the English Language, than Schollboys do off the Meaning wn. they Recite "Proprià quæ Maribus."1 In short they learn by Rote as do Parrotts; & if they talk nonsense they take care to bury it wth. a flood of words wch. Rush in upon them without Ideas as waters thro' the Flood Gates have no fish: & it may fairly be sd. off most of them that their tongues run before their Wit. But I hope that you will never affect to be one of these Polite Ladies but will rather mind the old maxim think twice in speaking once and three times to Act, then shall you avoid that Penury to wch. Solomon says the multitude of words tend. Have you never observ'd that these great Talkers wn. in Company that might awe them & so restrain them from those floods of words have made but a poor Show in Conversation: but on the other hand they that use themselves to reading well digested Discourses & to Writing their own thoughts have a far different manner of Conversation. I think I have been an observer of both & from my own Observation & some little Experience can recommend to you frequent Inditings as writing to freinds (yr. Brother especially) & keeping a constant Journall & other occasionall writings you will find to improve yr. naturall faculty, 31yr. writing, yr. inditing yr. spelling, yr. Conversation, & I may add, will render you thoughtfull & sedate & cast an agreable solemnity upon yr. thoughts and mind. I must now conclude by wishing that you may make Application according to discretion, & practice upon it pretty quick to me & so oblige yr. Well-wisher & Loving Brother,

ROBT. TREAT PAINE

No. 4. NB That Letter wch. don't contain 10 Lines shall nott be numbr'd. Agreed.

RC ; addressed: “To Mrs. Eunice Paine att Boston"; endorsed.

1.

What are appropriate for men.

Boston March 24 1748 Dear Brother,

I reciv'd your letter by Cheever1 which put gladness in my heart and Smiles on my face. I am oblidg to you for your opinion of my facultys and for your good advice to improve them and if I had more of your advice and Examples I Should improve faster. I am very Sensible that there are a Set of people in the world that make their tongues prove a Curse rather than a Blessing to them by improveing them about the fashion and vain things of this world and never allowing their thoughts a moments time to Contemplate on the happyness of another and are so far from preparing for it that they think another time will do well enouhg when they have lost their relish for these pleasures. Dear Brother I fear that I can See the mote in my neigbours eye altho I have a beam in my own but I hope in time with my own Endeavors and the help of my freinds (of whom you are cheif) to get my Sight clear and See my own defects. But in the mean time you must give me leave to Say that I am not one of those you mention'd for I do not think the Beauty of Conversation consists in a multitude of words yet I dont pertend to be a judge of conversation but I know what pleases me and what I can Suck most hony out of. I hope to have a great many good Cautions and instructive letters from you to help fill my hive lest for want of knowledge that is worthy Something that is useless if not bad may fill the place. I am so elevated to think that you have not cast me quite of that. I know not where to leave of But fearing least I Should take too much of your precious time 32to read my nonsence and So I will porceed to the conclusion but first I must tell you I have got a letter that was sent to Jeremiah Green2 Calld the Drone & I will inclose it3 for I think for a Satyr it is prety Smart & there is on the same paper a carachter of Governir Phillips4 as it was drawn up in his presence Extempore By a gentleman but I do not know who but if you leave a blank I can find out. This I send as my mite to you instead of a better. I must conclude beging you would not forget me. I wish for your sake as well as my own that I were mistres of better Language that I might with a face Send oftener to you but Seeing I send you my best I hope you will excuse them from your Loving Sister & Hearty well wisher,

EUNICE PAINE

PS Pray give my Service to Mr. Apleton daughters and to all that enquire after me.

RC ; addressed: “To Mr. Robert Treat Paine att Cambridge"; endorsed.

1.

Israel Cheever (1722–1811), classmate of RTP and later first minister of Liverpool, Nova Scotia (Sibley's Harvard Graduates, 12:363–366).

2.

Jeremiah Greene (1732–ca. 1789), later a distiller in Boston (Thwing Index).

3.

Enclosure not found.

4.

This reference may be to Spencer Phips (1685–1757), lieutenant-governor of Massachusetts, 1732–1757 (Sibley's Harvard Graduates, 5:224–234).