Transcription
CATALOG NUMBER HF 3037 AA
OBJECT NAME Letter
DATE November 19, 1830
AUTHOR Charles Hoffman
RECIPIENT Emma Nicholas
MEDIUM Paper, ink
DESCRIPTION
“Julia are you going down stairs?” “Why”/ “Because I wish as you come up you’d bring/ me pen ink & paper an I’ll write to Emma”/
N York {?}ber/ 19 1830/
My dear Em,/
I really reproach my=/self more for not having written/ to you than for any sin of omission/ or [commission] I have long been guilty/ of. And yet I have not forgotten-/ no not for a day my sweet little/ niece have I forgotten you- your/ letter received before the last, had been/ lying in my most especial pigeon hole/ and every morning when I let down/ the cover of my secretary I vow that/ another western mail shall not/ close without [bearing] you the kindest/ answer in the world. But such/ my dear girl, as you will sooner/ or later learn, is the uncertainty of/ all human enterprises (so your [grave]/ admirer William Duer would express it) [that]/ day after day the clerk has been let down/ and the mail man up without/ your letter having been written upon/ the one of consigned to the other-/
But the time that I have chosen now to write to you/ (and I mean it to be a long letter) is about as good/ a proof as I could give of not intentionally neglecting/
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you. I have been up till one o clock for the/ last {?} nights, was at two parties last night,/ am going to another so soon as I get through/ this and must be at my business at 7 to=/morrow morning, and yet in the mi{unrecovered}/ of this hurry of [dissipation] and business/ with a little family party of the Hoffmans/ praising Matildas work {?} around me,/ I am now as completely obstructed from [all]/ “temporal concerns” as if writing to you w[ere]/ the most agreeable thing in the world, in-/ stead of being as it is only one of the most/ agreeable things- your gran’pa just [stopped]/ me to send his love and tell you that if/ you can get an opportunity you must/ come on as soon as possible and spend/ the winter with us and exchange with/ Matilda in the spring. To which Julia/ echoes that she will be delighted to have you- George has been home lately/ he is now stationed at Princeton where [Mrs]/ Harrison says he is quite a {?} he talks/ a little of spending the winter in town/ in which case I shall push him into the/ “gay world” as it is charitably called, and [?]/=[?] again myself into comfortable stupidi/=ty. He is learning to waltz and will/ I have no doubt receive from his being/ so proper a young man receive attention/ from both mama’s and daughters./ Tell Matilda that W[m] {?} is still/ the {?} of admiring eyes {?} and that/
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William Duers curled head may be seen/ every where. His whiskers are highly respe/ ctable and {and?} his Lepine watch of the/ most fashionable description and worn/ in the latest style!- In spite of all which/ he is “the same old two & sixpence” as ever. / after calling on the [Majors] this morning/ with me “Well Charles this ‘going out’ is/ a d_d stupid piece of business and/ I mean to find some other way of getting/ rid of my evenings”- a proposition in/ which I heartily [consumed], for though/ some persons seem to “dance away as/ cheerful” as the Jews your mother w{unrecovered}/ of its no joke to make one of 500 people/ packed with pickled oysters & [rickshaws]/ into two rooms some 20 feet square. I saw/ Matildas friend Maria [Sedgwick] and/ Sally Mary M{unrecovered} at a [squeeze] the other night/ but when I started to approach them I/ got into an {?} of the crowd, and being/ [whiled] out of the door, I took the current/ that was setting down stairs to the punch/ room, and by a very slight effort got fairly/ out of the house. Of course though sorry/ at not being able to speak to those ladies, I/ was willing to compromise for such an/ escape, and blessed my stars as once more “[revisi]/[ting] the glimpses of the moon” - Peter tells/ me that my candles are lit & shaving water ready/ so it being after nine I must now bid you/
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good night my dear Em and exchange/ your dear prim little society for that which/ is not more agreeable and certainly far/ less interesting. Give my love to your mother/ and tell her that I was much flattered at what Matilda wrote me of her {?}/ up my forlorn little star in the Heaven/ of entertainment the ‘N.Y. American. I/ should like to know if she recognized me/ in “[Begin] old wolfe” of the which you must/
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be [mum]. I send her {?} paper containing an article/ upon “American poetry” in the sentiments of which/ I know that she will agree though perhaps not laugh/ at the illustrations by [which] they are enforced./
Your Uncle Ogden has been making a famous/ speech. One of the {?}’{?} said ever delivered at this/ bar. Many persons shed tears upon the oc=/cassion and he himself was much moved- again/ good night my dear Em. My shaving water must/ be nearly cold [] how {?} so once more good night my sweet girl/ kiss Matilda for me./
Your affectionate Uncle/
Charles H/
[ADDRESS]
5th/
Miss Emma Nicholas/
Whitesboro’/
Oneida Cty/
N.Y-/
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