95 
Mr. Smith to his Son. 
My dear Son, Norwich, 12th January, 1784. 
The dutiful and affectionate light in which you 
now see what has passed between us upon the sub- 
ject under consideration, you may be assured makes 
a very deep and feeling impression upon my heart. 
Iam almost sorry for what my affection and duty to 
you and my family seemed to me to force me to 
write, as I knew it would give you pain; but now 
that I perceive a cooler expostulation would have 
wrought the same effect, I make some reproaches 
to myself for having given you more uneasiness 
than was necessary; and that must and does hurt 
a father who loves you to excess, who wishes and 
strives and prays most fervently that all your days 
may be tranquil, and all your undertakings success- 
ful. My soul is full of parental tenderness at this 
moment, and would fain expand itself upon this 
subject; but I have not time. Suffice it now to say, 
that we both think and feel as we ought to do upon 
the occasion, and that you have satisfied every sen- 
sation of my mind that regarded the relation you 
stand in to me; it shall be my care to strengthen 
your confidence in my solicitude and unalterable 
regard for your welfare. But the thing that strikes 
me very forcibly in your last, seems to confirm an 
opinion I took up at first; that is, the bulk of the 
collection. Here is a room (no doubt of large di- 
mensions) built on purpose to contain a great many 
cabinets, and a few books; the principal library was 
in another place,—no doubt a very large one too: 
