Robert Treat Paine Papers, Volume 2
The letter I recieved by Mr. Divol I did not Answer as it deserved & as I intended expecting he would return sooner than he did. I can't express how pleased I was at the discovery wch. yr. Epistle (for that name this one of a thousand deserves) convinced me I had made. I don't pretend to claim it as an discovery Invention but really a discovery & as truly so as that of Gunpowder & much more valuable to me that of Gunpowder or the much desired Longitude for by this Sr. I can as with Gunpowder Operate on you at a distance & know my Scituation with regard to you more as Surely than by the discovery of Longitude & with as much reall pleasure as Sailors would know their distance course & distance to their desired port by the discovery of Longitude.185The discovery I allude is a sure means of knowing yr. existence & making you comunicate yr. invaluable state of mind & employments. In the Natural World we have found a strange Sympathy between different Bodys, thus the Loadstone attracts Iron, Aqua Regia operates on Gold & aqua fortis on Silver, And the hidden qualitys of many valuable bodys are only known by the application of some other Bodys to them. & thus Sr. to write to you on the Subject of Judging horse flesh is a sure Means to throw open yr. Soul & make you discover excellencys which you industriously Strive to hide. O blessed Day in which by being cheated in horse flesh I first was laid under a Necessity of applying to you, O Noble Animal form'd by Nature the only Heroe to break the bulwarks of yr. Mind & penetrate to the Magazines of yr. inexhausted Kingdom; Nor will I ever forget you O individual of this Noble Species tho' broken Winded & unfit for my use, but will record you with a remembrance before that of Buchephalus1 seeing thou hast eventually led me on to more valuable acquisitions then he ever did his Master. I doubt Sr. after this I never shall have a horse that suits or at least I lay at yr. Mercy for the least
reservedness from you will disgust me to my horse, I fully determine.
The favorite horse of Alexander the Great (N. G. L. Hammond and H. H. Scullard, eds., The Oxford Classical Dictionary. 2d ed. [Oxford, 1970]).
I wrote you last Octr. by Capt. Jones relating to the Concerns between us, and hoped 'ere this time to have had the pleasure of hearing from you. I really have great Occasion for the money and should be obliged to you if you would let me have it as soon as you can. My letter in October made some proposals relative to the payment, concerning which you'll please to let me know your mind by the first Oppertunity. Mean while I rest yr. Most hble. sert.,