Item 10: A Letter from James McClintock to Hannah McClintock, 1828 August 24
Item — Box: 1, Folder: 10
Dates
- Created: 1828 August 24
Creator
Disclaimer for Name and Subject Authorities
Some of the name and subject authority tags have been assigned by educated guessing and estimation of persons and subjects by region, age, profession, and familial relationships. They have been thoroughly researched by using primary and secondary sources available digitally, and named in each description, or in some cases linked directly to the person tag.
Access:
All series and subseries within this collection are open for research, with the exception of a few files within the Academia series that are restricted. The Academia series contains financial and sensitive institutional records from Wilkes College, and financial report records from Princeton University that will remain restricted for 80 years upon creation.
Extent
1 items
Language of Materials
From the Collection: English
Type of Material:
Letter/Correspondence
Condition Note:
Poor. The pages are torn in several places.
Measurements:
7 13/16 in. x 9 ½ in.
Description:
The following item depicts a letter from James McClintock to Hannah McClintock, his aunt, dated August 24, 1828. In the letter, James begins by addressing a comment she has made about him in a recent letter, suggesting that he is not “half inclined to think I do not esteem my friends as family,
else I could not neglect them so.” He writes in response to this that it is not that he does not care for his family and friends but that his ailing health and disinterests have led him to seek solitude and hermitage. His language does seem to suggest that he is bored by some of the correspondence, as he writes that the letters coming before him did little to improve upon his own experience. However, he does note that repeated interest in his welfare and health engender a greater response within him. He concludes his letter by stating his excitement that her son, Andrew Todd McClintock will be coming to Wilkes Barre to establish his name in law soon, and he writes that he will use any and all influence he may wield to help him do that quickly. He also writes a letter of congratulations for her in a suit against Judge Chapman, where she has been awarded $700. He signs the letter off with a friendly sentiment and requests that she share his hello to another man by the name of James.
James quotes a letter by Lord Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke, stating that “No one comes to a hermitage but for sake of the hermit.”
The Works of Alexander Pope, Esq; Complete. With His Last Corrections, by Alexander Pope, has a printing of the letter on pages 143-144.
Location:
Wilkes-Barre
Transcription:
Page 1:
Wilkes Barre August 24th 1828. My dear Aunt I recd [received] your letter by the last mail. You say you are “half inclined to think I do not esteem my friends as family, else I could not neglect them so.” It is said there is no sorrow more afflicting than that which flows from a conviction that we love or respect a being who will not return our affections; yet, perhaps, it may be questioned, whether the regret of him who is suspected of a “falling off,” by one to whom he is warmly attached, may not be still more poignant. For myself, I would not willingly be charged with an insolvency of the heart towards a generous creditor, even though I allow him to have some evidence of the insecurity of my attachment. I am indeed a careless corrispondent (sic) [correspondent], but not, believe me, an ungrateful friend. - Previous to my admission to the Bar, I was a perfect prodigal in the articles of ink and pacers; every arrival of the mail brot [brought] me “news from all nations,” and every departure took from my desk innumerable letters. Many of my corrispondants (sic) [correspondents] being yet more feeble than myself, I gathered from their pages little to improve me; and finding in my introduction to business, an avinue (sic) [avenue] of escape, I bade them all “good night”, at the door of the courthouse. To shake off some for whose talents I had no regard, I sacrificed others, with whom I had long been united, by bonds of the closest friendships; until I found myself involved in a solitude, as lonely as ever surrounded a recluse, in the day of his religious enthusiasm, whom his only companion was the cross he worshipped (sic) [worshiped]. It was wrong. It was as the folloy (sic) [folly] of him who destroys the whole vine, because some of its tendrills (sic) [tendril] happen not to be adorned with flowers, or enriched with fruit. Since that time, my pen has been idle, or employed only in the way of my profession, or in answering, at distant periods, a line from some early associate, kindly enquiring for my happiness, or justly upbraiding me with my sullen
Page 2:
habits of seclusion. To such I have written with all the fervor of my youthful devotion, believing this friendship - “not a name- a charm that lulls to sleep” - but a deep impression upon the heart, - which, only with the heart, can perish! Why else pursue me in my retreat? No one comes to a hermitage, says Bolingbook, but for sake of the hermit. Among these I must enumerate yourself; and as I am fully assured of your interest in my prosperity upon the earth and in my ultimate happiness in heaven, it would be the coldest of all ingratitude, longer, to neglect you. But I am not now able to say to you all I could wish, being engaged in preparation for the northern courts. Upon my return in September you will hear from me again. Meanwhile be satisfied that if I have heretofore deserved your good opinion, it shall be my care to merit it hereafter. I may say in regard to my health, that it is tolerable. I am never well: It has pleased heaven to give me a constitution little calculated to indure (sic) [endure] “the feeling of a pitiless storm”. I am indeed a victim to no one disease, yet do I seem to possess the symptoms of a thousand. All is not right within me; but whether my countless maladies have this existence in matter or in mind, “doctors disagree” and the wretched patient himself is unable to determine. I congratulate you upon the recovery of the $700 against Judge Chapman: Me thinks his honor might have secured the claims of the widow + the orphan, without the interposition of a Court of law.
Page 3:
Shoud (sic) [Should] any place become vacant here, which could be profitably filled by Andrew, it will give one pleasure to exact the little influence I may command, in his favor. I could wish that our paths thro’ [though] this life may lie near to each other. His moral worth, together with his faithful attention to business deservedly entitle him to the admiration and respect of his friends. May he never forget that the approbation of his own breast will necessarily secure to him the blessings - as well of temporal as of eternal felicity. Remember me kindly to James, + accept for yourself, once for all, a full assurance that however I may “neglect my friends,” I never can forget to love them.
Affectionately Yours, James McClintock
Page 4:
Wilkes Barre} Paid 10 Augu[s]t 25 }
Mrs Hannah McClintock Northumberland Penn[sylvani]a
Wilkes Barre August 24th 1828. My dear Aunt I recd [received] your letter by the last mail. You say you are “half inclined to think I do not esteem my friends as family, else I could not neglect them so.” It is said there is no sorrow more afflicting than that which flows from a conviction that we love or respect a being who will not return our affections; yet, perhaps, it may be questioned, whether the regret of him who is suspected of a “falling off,” by one to whom he is warmly attached, may not be still more poignant. For myself, I would not willingly be charged with an insolvency of the heart towards a generous creditor, even though I allow him to have some evidence of the insecurity of my attachment. I am indeed a careless corrispondent (sic) [correspondent], but not, believe me, an ungrateful friend. - Previous to my admission to the Bar, I was a perfect prodigal in the articles of ink and pacers; every arrival of the mail brot [brought] me “news from all nations,” and every departure took from my desk innumerable letters. Many of my corrispondants (sic) [correspondents] being yet more feeble than myself, I gathered from their pages little to improve me; and finding in my introduction to business, an avinue (sic) [avenue] of escape, I bade them all “good night”, at the door of the courthouse. To shake off some for whose talents I had no regard, I sacrificed others, with whom I had long been united, by bonds of the closest friendships; until I found myself involved in a solitude, as lonely as ever surrounded a recluse, in the day of his religious enthusiasm, whom his only companion was the cross he worshipped (sic) [worshiped]. It was wrong. It was as the folloy (sic) [folly] of him who destroys the whole vine, because some of its tendrills (sic) [tendril] happen not to be adorned with flowers, or enriched with fruit. Since that time, my pen has been idle, or employed only in the way of my profession, or in answering, at distant periods, a line from some early associate, kindly enquiring for my happiness, or justly upbraiding me with my sullen
Page 2:
habits of seclusion. To such I have written with all the fervor of my youthful devotion, believing this friendship - “not a name- a charm that lulls to sleep” - but a deep impression upon the heart, - which, only with the heart, can perish! Why else pursue me in my retreat? No one comes to a hermitage, says Bolingbook, but for sake of the hermit. Among these I must enumerate yourself; and as I am fully assured of your interest in my prosperity upon the earth and in my ultimate happiness in heaven, it would be the coldest of all ingratitude, longer, to neglect you. But I am not now able to say to you all I could wish, being engaged in preparation for the northern courts. Upon my return in September you will hear from me again. Meanwhile be satisfied that if I have heretofore deserved your good opinion, it shall be my care to merit it hereafter. I may say in regard to my health, that it is tolerable. I am never well: It has pleased heaven to give me a constitution little calculated to indure (sic) [endure] “the feeling of a pitiless storm”. I am indeed a victim to no one disease, yet do I seem to possess the symptoms of a thousand. All is not right within me; but whether my countless maladies have this existence in matter or in mind, “doctors disagree” and the wretched patient himself is unable to determine. I congratulate you upon the recovery of the $700 against Judge Chapman: Me thinks his honor might have secured the claims of the widow + the orphan, without the interposition of a Court of law.
Page 3:
Shoud (sic) [Should] any place become vacant here, which could be profitably filled by Andrew, it will give one pleasure to exact the little influence I may command, in his favor. I could wish that our paths thro’ [though] this life may lie near to each other. His moral worth, together with his faithful attention to business deservedly entitle him to the admiration and respect of his friends. May he never forget that the approbation of his own breast will necessarily secure to him the blessings - as well of temporal as of eternal felicity. Remember me kindly to James, + accept for yourself, once for all, a full assurance that however I may “neglect my friends,” I never can forget to love them.
Affectionately Yours, James McClintock
Page 4:
Wilkes Barre} Paid 10 Augu[s]t 25 }
Mrs Hannah McClintock Northumberland Penn[sylvani]a
Creator
Repository Details
Part of the Wilkes University Archives Repository
Contact:
84 W South St.
Wilkes-Barre PA 18701 US
570-408-2000
570-408-7823 (Fax)
ask.archives@wilkes.edu
84 W South St.
Wilkes-Barre PA 18701 US
570-408-2000
570-408-7823 (Fax)
ask.archives@wilkes.edu