You argue as if your rea&longs;on were
perverted—Let your mind be employed, and
time will wear out the&longs;e gloomy ideas; for
it is certainly a truth, that the love of life in

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crea&longs;es with age—Your letters, therefore, are
predicated on the mo&longs;t erroneous principles.

REMEMBER the &longs;tory of the old man, who
had been buried in a dungeon the greater
part of his life, and who was liberated at an
advanced age. He viewed, once more, the
light of the &longs;un, and the habitations of men—
he had come into a new order of beings,
but found their manners di&longs;ta&longs;teful—In the
mid&longs;t of the &longs;un&longs;hine of the world, he remembered
the pri&longs;on, where he had wa&longs;ted
his life, and he &longs;ighed to be again immured
within its walls.

SUCH is our pa&longs;&longs;ion for life; we love it
becau&longs;e we know it; and our attachment becomes
the more riveted, the longer we are

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acquainted with it—Our pri&longs;on grows familiar—
we contemplate its horrours—but however
gloomy the walls that &longs;urround us,
there is not one but &longs;ets a full value on his
dreary exi&longs;tence—there is not one but finds
his partiality for his dungeon increa&longs;e, in proportion
to the time he hath occupied it—for
among the race of human beings confined
to this narrow &longs;pot—how few are they who
are hardy enough to break their pri&longs;on?

LET us watch over all we do with an eye
of &longs;crutiny—the world will not examine the
cau&longs;es that give birth to our actions—they
do not weigh the motives of them—they do
not con&longs;ider tho&longs;e things which influence our
conduct—but as that conduct is more or le&longs;s
advantageous to &longs;ociety, they deem it

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madness or wi&longs;dom, or folly or prudence—Remember
this—

Adieu!