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to business, was obliged to retire seven or eight 

 years ago. His relaxation and favourite amusement 

 was collecting prints and drawings. He had the 

 best taste, and more knowledge on those subjects 

 than any man I ever was acquainted with. He ap- 

 pointed me one of his executors, and left me entirely 

 his vast collection of prints and drawings. This 

 mark of regard, however gratifying, can never give 

 me the same enjoyment as formerly ; I am over- 

 whelmed with them ; and only trying to look into 

 one portfolio plunged me in melancholy. I am a 

 great deal older than you, and have met with so 

 many deprivations of this sort, that I feel a kind of 

 insensibility creeping on. I consider myself as a 

 spectator only of a fleeting world, and have little 

 interest in any thing that occurs. Nothing you say 

 in these cases avails but religion. It is the best 

 consolation, provided it be pure and benevolent, 

 unmixed with worldly craft, — not such as we have 

 to lament in this country/that sows hatred and ani- 

 mosity, and is the true source of all our mischiefs. 



You allude, I suppose, to a future state ; the pro- 

 spect of which religion holds forth. I must confess, 

 however, that I do not feel that horror at the idea 

 of non-existence that Dr. Johnson did : I can con- 

 ceive a much worse circumstance ; — one alone, — 

 with the privilege of immortality, when every thing 

 else has ceased ; — that, in my opinion, would be 

 more shocking than any thing that could be con- 

 ceived. 



My taste will not be questioned by my friend 

 Mrs. Smith us to the Ayrshire poet. The four vo- 



