Transcription
CATALOG NUMBER HF 3039 R
OBJECT NAME Letter
DATE June 21, 1837
AUTHOR Phil Rhinelander, Jr.
RECIPIENT Emma Nicholas Maloney
MEDIUM Paper, ink
PEOPLE Mary Rhinelander (King), Washington Irving, Eliza Storrs, Mrs.
McCraken, Mary Stevens, “the cousinhood”, Henry Storrs, George Hoffman, Alex(ander) Watts, Matilda Nicholas Whitman, Ann Hoffman Nicholas, Whitman children
PLACES New York, Belvidere, Kishwaukie, Tarrytown, “Sing Sing”
(Ossining), Sleepy Hollow, “mansion of Katrin Van Tassel”, Squaw Prairie, West Point
EVENTS Articles about “Far West” in the Evening Standard, Phil and Mary
Rhinelander spend two weeks with Washington Irving in Tarrytown, Mary Stevens engaged to be married in October
Addressed to:
Miss Emma Nicholas
Belvidere
10th
As I have unfortunately directed this letter /
Not very straight, I have enclosed it to Mr. /
Whitman; as he is PM, that will be /
The way in which I shall in future direct /
My letters as thus you will be more sure /
To receive them _ We might as well take /
Advantage of our relation being in office.
Yours, etc. Phil
New York June 21, 1837
My dear Emma I receive your last letter about two weeks / ago, the day before I left town _ As I had not an opportunity / of writing while away, I have written as soon as possible after / my relation _
About a week before I received your last letter I had written/ you a long epistle of sixteen pages, full of news and nonsense / but as I did not direct it in the manner mentioned in / your last letter, I fear lest it may not have been received and / on that account I have now written to let you know that / there is such a letter somewhere between the cities of New York / and Kishwaukie ___ You must not blame me for not / having written, but the mails for not having carried letters / As the city is at present very dull you must not expect this / to be a long or newsbearing letter, for two weeks cannot furnish / material for even a note, and i have not the lady-like / faculty of writing about nothing. /
I have just returned from spending a fortnight with Mary / at Washington Irving’s cottage at Tarry Town on the Hudson / we passed a delightful time indeed _ the cottage is most / beautifully situated immediately on the banks of the river, / and every thing about it is arranged with much taste / that it is difficult to tell which is the most enchanting the / beauties of nature or of art _ You can have no idea of the / relief which one feels at leaving the bustle ( bustel) + tumult /
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Of the odious city to spend your time at such a place as this_ / every thing is so calm, as gently beautiful that mere / existence is a pleasure, you feel not the want of excitement / but pass your time delightfully, musing, and gazing on the river / a scene that never tires __ and when to all these sources of / enjoyment is added the agreeable qualities of our host (for / when he chooses he is the most agreeable of men) you may / imagine the pleasure that we must have enjoyed /
We passed our time in seeking and finding pleasure in / reading, talking, walking and riding __
We visited all the scenes of legendary lore in the neighborhood, / melodious Sing Sing; Narcotic Sleepy Hollow and the Abiding / Tarry Town _ and last not least we lived in the mansion / of the fair Katrina Van Tassel _
We of course, for it is the custom of the country, went / on Sundry Pic Nic’s, wandering about the country - / we used to start in the morning, after breakfast, and / ride over the country, always choose the most romantic / routes, admiring the beauties of the scenery, until warned / by the calls of hunger, we thought of less sentimental subjects / we when chose some picturesque spot, under a shady tree / near some bubbling brook, and there spread our table and / with mirth and light-heartedness passed our time ‘till / near evening, when we would again resume our journey and / return to the cottage __
The two weeks that I was at Tarry Town were two weeks / of real pleasure. I had no thought of the city or its cares / we laughed from morning ‘till night ) being in that /
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State of mind that we were places with anything / I have seen lately in the Evening Star, a series of letters from / The Far West, in which the writing speaks of Kishwaukie, Squaw Prairie, Belvidere, etc, do you know who is the / writer, I really feel much obliged to him for his letters / for by substituting your name at the end instead of / his, I can thes read a letter from you every few days. / Eliza Storrs has been quite unwell, indeed alarmingly so, / but I am happy to say that she is now fast recovering / I can down with the brother Henry from West Point on / Monday; she was taken sick while on a visit at Utica but / is now in town having been brought home by her father. / Have you seen or heard any thing of Mrs. McCraken / Mary Stevens is to married [sic] in October, the first of the / cousinhood who have entered into that state, that / will be the breaking up of our pleasant little circle, / the first inroad of matrimony among us _ it really / makes me melancholy to think of it _
All the rest of the cousins (by the bye they are all well) / say that they intend to be old maids _ wait ‘till they / are tried __
All your friends and relations are quite well, George / has been in town and is looking better than I have / ever seen him __ /
Do tell me some news about Alex. Watts _
Give my very best love to Aunt Ann, Matilda and / all my little cousins, and believe me that if you / will ensure the [?Cheriograply? Unrecovered] of this letter I shall /
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Ever remain your attached
Cousin Phil
