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3i2 CORRESPONDENCE AND PUBLIC PAPERS.
panied it. Marks of friendly attention from those we
esteem are particularly grateful, and I have delayed
making my acknowledgments to you because I wished
to first read the memoirs; this I have done with
pleasure.
As to what you have heard of my living very retired, it is to a certain degree true.1 The fact is, that
I live very much as I have long wished to do. I have
a pleasant situation, and very good neighbours. I
enjoy peace and a competency proportionate to my
comforts and moderate desires, with such a residue
of health as, while it constantly whispers " memento
mori," still permits me to see my friends with cheerfulness and pleasure. The burthen of time I have
not experienced; attention to little improvements,
occasional visits, the history which my recollections
furnish, and frequent conversations with the " mighty
dead," who in a certain sense live in their works,
together with the succession of ordinary occurrences,
1 In his letter of July gth Judge Peters wrote to Jay from his home at
Belmont, Penn.:
" It is said that you have turned hermit, and I am not much behind you.
Both of us are old enough to wish for repose ; but the disturbed state of the world
will not permit us to enjoy it. Old Gates used to tell me in 1776 that if the bantling Independence lived one year, it would last to the age of Methuselah.
Yet we have lived to see it in its dotage, with all the maladies and imbecilities
of extreme old age. Quacks and empirics are not likely to prolong its existence. Those who laboured in bringing this bantling into the world, and
nursed and fostered it in its infancy, have not the less merit, because, in its
manhood, it has lived too fast and got into bad company. Theories and wild
speculations are the order of the day, and we must submit with as good a
grace as we can. When present circumstances are disgusting, I endeavour to
re-enjoy what is past. Among these retrospective pleasures is the sincere
satisfaction produced by the recollection of the constant regard with which I
have been, and still remain, very affectionately yours."
| Title | The correspondence and public papers of John Jay - 4 |
| Creator | Jay, John |
| Publisher | G.P. Putnam's Sons |
| Place of Publication | New York, London |
| Date | [1890-93] |
| Type | Books/Pamphlets |
| Title | 00000339 |
| Type | Books/Pamphlets |
| Transcript | 3i2 CORRESPONDENCE AND PUBLIC PAPERS. panied it. Marks of friendly attention from those we esteem are particularly grateful, and I have delayed making my acknowledgments to you because I wished to first read the memoirs; this I have done with pleasure. As to what you have heard of my living very retired, it is to a certain degree true.1 The fact is, that I live very much as I have long wished to do. I have a pleasant situation, and very good neighbours. I enjoy peace and a competency proportionate to my comforts and moderate desires, with such a residue of health as, while it constantly whispers " memento mori," still permits me to see my friends with cheerfulness and pleasure. The burthen of time I have not experienced; attention to little improvements, occasional visits, the history which my recollections furnish, and frequent conversations with the " mighty dead," who in a certain sense live in their works, together with the succession of ordinary occurrences, 1 In his letter of July gth Judge Peters wrote to Jay from his home at Belmont, Penn.: " It is said that you have turned hermit, and I am not much behind you. Both of us are old enough to wish for repose ; but the disturbed state of the world will not permit us to enjoy it. Old Gates used to tell me in 1776 that if the bantling Independence lived one year, it would last to the age of Methuselah. Yet we have lived to see it in its dotage, with all the maladies and imbecilities of extreme old age. Quacks and empirics are not likely to prolong its existence. Those who laboured in bringing this bantling into the world, and nursed and fostered it in its infancy, have not the less merit, because, in its manhood, it has lived too fast and got into bad company. Theories and wild speculations are the order of the day, and we must submit with as good a grace as we can. When present circumstances are disgusting, I endeavour to re-enjoy what is past. Among these retrospective pleasures is the sincere satisfaction produced by the recollection of the constant regard with which I have been, and still remain, very affectionately yours." |
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