66 LIFE OF BENJAMIN SILLIMAN. 



this will not smother a ruling passion But I will 



cease to complain. I deserve more than I suffer. 



TO MR. G. S. SILLIMAN. 

 



FAIKFIELD, May 27, 1797. 



BE not surprised at anything, nor be induced 



to believe that my feelings always run in so low a chan- 

 del. I experience for the greater part of the time a phil- 

 osophic serenity, and it is only when I cast my thoughts 

 upon the interesting subjects which I last spoke of that I 

 experience a depression. But I see much ground to hope 

 that my situation will by-and-by be better. Patience and 

 fortitude are the best defence against adversity, and never 

 does human nature appear more truly respectable than 

 when calmly resisting misfortune. The public mind in this 

 part of the Union has, in a short period past, undergone a 

 great change with respect to France. Those who, before 

 their depredations upon our commerce, were opposed to 

 them, now cry out vehemently ; those who were calm begin 

 to bestir themselves, and their friends hold their tongues. 

 A war with France is dreaded by all, but expected by 

 many. 



TO MR. STEPHEN TWINING. 



\YETHERSFIELD, March 19, 1798. 



You no doubt have heard, from some one of 



those to whom I have written in New Haven, of the agree- 

 ableness of my present situation. I am very happily dis- 

 appointed in two respects. I was fearful that attention to 

 business, after so long a season of relaxation, would cause 

 a return of those disagreeable and dangerous companions, 

 whose presence had obliged me to throw by my books. I 

 presumed, too, that the employment of instruction would 

 be tiresome and tedious. But I am happily disappointed 

 in both these respects. I have not, in two years past, 



