The Virginia Gazette

A Letter from a Statesman retired from Court, to my Lord -, in Commendation of a Country Life.

My Lord,

OULD I think you capable of insulting me in this my absolute Retreat from all the polite and modish Part of Society, when you request from me a Detail of my solitary Amusements; no one should exact a more severe Satisfaction: But, as I have no Reason to question your former Friendship, I Shall, with my usual undisguised Openness, lay before you my Manner of Life, and how it is agreeable to one of my Years, worn out with the Fatigues of the State, and cloyed with the Ways of the World.

I never was so sensible of my own Dignity; abstracted from Business or Diversion, my Mind retires within itself, where it finds Treasures, 'til now, undiscovered; Capacities formed for infinite Objects, Desires that stretch themselves beyond the Limits of this wide Creation in Search of the great Original of Life and Pleasure. I must tell you, my Lord! that I find new Powers exerting their Energy, and employed on such Exercises, to which, 'til now I have been a Stranger.---How oft have you and I rallied the Remembrance of our religious Duties, and put the sacred Truths on a Level with the Poets rosy Bowers, Myrtle-shades, and Elysian Fields! but now I am convinced, That the Soul is immortal, and capable of celestial Joys, and triumph in the Privileges of my own Being. I rejoice to think, that the Moment I began to exist, I entered on an eternal State, and commenced a Duration, that shall run parallel to that of the Supreme and Self-existent Mind.---This Prospect animates me with a divine Ambition; and casts a Reproach on all created Glory, which we have been so long and so anxiously looking after. The World vanisheth; its Charms and soft Allurements are no more; a Veil is cast on mortal Beauty; the Spell is broken, the Enchantment dissolved; and though I am every where surrounded with causeless Enemies, nothing gives me so great Trouble as the Loss of so much Time in the Pursuit of perishable Objects.

Perchance you may smile, and take this for an imaginary Triumph, or sort of cowardly Insult, in the Absence of an Enemy: and may think my Contempt of Grandeur appears with an ill Grace in one that enjoys a considerable Estate, a grand Equipage, and many other Tokens of his Sovereign's Favour for the Services done to his King and Country. But this, my Lord! is what has given me a just Opinion of the World and of myself: A constant Series of Success and Prosperity has convinced me, that the whole Creation cannot make me blessed. My ambitious Designs have never been disappointed: I have been so vain to apply to my own Power that awful Sentence, By me Kings reign.---In Love I have always been fortunate. But whatever Pleasure I pursued, the Enjoyment always undeceived me, or disgusted me.---Sometimes I was too wise, sometimes too capricious to be pleased.---I have tried all the Vanities below the Sun; and there is left no Novelty to flatter me. I know the utmost that Beauty and Greatness can give, and am cured of Love and Ambition by experimental Evidence.

Your Lordship has been Witness to many of those Truths which I recollect in this Seat of Retirement. You cannot forget Eutatia; the admired Eutatia, in whose Possession my youthful Days promised themselves lasting Joys.---How did I adore her! You can tell with what Eagerness and Anxiety I pursued her Virtue. But her yielding Beauty, by granting my Desires, lost my Esteem: Her Charms vanished: Her Wit was Impertinence, and her Artifice disgusted me: And this, in a great Measure, put a Period to my Gallantries.---I could thenceforward look upon Women, without any Temptation to Idolatry.---Balls and Assemblies, Dancing and Dress, were no longer the Subjects of my serious Application: And I yielded an implicit Assent to those petit maitres, whose Talents lie in discussing the important Controversies who sings best at the Opera, performs best at the Play-houses, entertains us more agreeably at Vauxhall and Ranelagh; or who supplies the Town best with Masquerade Dresses, when they are ashamed to turn Fools in their usual Habit.

But these soft Follies were only discarded for more precious Vanities.-- Distinction and Power.--Titles and Equipages now fill my Thoughts.--- Ambition took full Possession of my Soul.---I cloathed myself with Patriotism: And as the Circumstances of the Times concurred with my Scheme, I presently harangued myself into Esteem: And,--you must remember that remarkable Debate,-- by a well timed Opposition, and Constancy,--made my Adversaries think it worth their While to gain me over at any Rate.---From such Beginnings, I reached the envied Height, and made myself gloriously miserable.---I jumped into the Saddle, where I expected the Consummation of all my Wishes. But this very Period, from whence I hoped to date my Happiness, begun with Distrust and Anxiety.

Forsaken by my Patriot Friends, I found myself surrounded with Flatterers and mercenary Dependants: And my Sleep, as well as my daily Attendance on the State, disturbed with Courtiers, Dispatches, Intrigues of the Cabinet, and Outcries of a discontented People loading me with the Blame of those Evils, which you are sensible would never have fallen upon them, had my moderate and more wholesome Opinion been approved.---My Discontent under these Vexations was grown almost insupportable; ---and, indeed, I must very soon have been borne down under such a Weight,
had not kind Providence released me: and made my Enemies the Instruments of doing me that Good, which I was not able to do for myself. It was a happy Coalition, my Lord! that set me free, and took the Burthen upon their own Shoulders.---What Advantage they have got by it, I know not:--for my own Part, I have gained a joyous Retreat, surrounded with a charming Variety of Woods, open Lawns, and flowery Vales in their uncultivated Beauty. Here I rove unattended and free with no Circumstance of Grandeur, but the Consciousness of a reasonable and immortal Being.

I have tried what delights were to be found in Madness and Folly; and am now in Pursuit of what Wisdom and Philosophy can yield. In the fair Creation I trace an Almighty Power, and See the immense Divinity impressed on all his Works. And as a Specimen of those Thoughts which my Retirement inspires me with, read the following Soliloquy, with which I this Morning addressed the great Spirit of Nature:

Ye Woods and Wilds, receive me to your Shade!
Thee still Retreats my Contemplation aid:
From Mortals flying to your chaste Abode,
Let me attend the instructive Voice of God!
He speaks in all; and is in all Things found
I hear him, I perceive him all-around:
In Nature's lovely and unblemish'd Face,
With Joy his sacred Lineaments I trace.
O glorious Being! O supremely fair!
How free, how perfect thy Productions are!
Forgive me, while with curious Eyes I view
Thy Works, and boldly thus thy Steps pursue:
The silent Valley and the lonely Grove
I haunt: But oh'! 'tis Thee I seek and love.
'Tis not the Chant of Birds, nor whisp'ring Breeze,
But thy soft Voice I seek among the Trees:
Invoking thee, by Silver Streams I walk,
To thee in solitary Shades I talk.
I speak thy dear lov'd Name, nor speak in vain;
Kind Echoes long the pleasing Sound retain.
Reviving Sweets the op'ning Flow'rs disclose,
Fragrant the Violet, and the budding Rose;
But all their balmy Sweets from thee they steal,
And of thee somewhat to my Sense reveal.
Fair look the Stars, and fair the Morning Ray,
When first the Fields their painted Scenes display.
Glorious the Sun in his Meridian Height!
And yet, compar'd to thee, how faint the Light!
Ador'd Artificer! What Skill divine!
What Wonders in the wide Creation shine!
Order and Majesty adorn the Whole,
Beauty and Life, and thou th' inspiring Soul:
Whatever Grace, or Harmony's express'd,
On all thy Works, the God is there confess'd:
But oh! from all thy Works how small a Part
To human Minds is known of what thou art?
Fancy gives o'er its Flight in Search of thee;
Our Thoughts are lost in thy Immensity.

My Lord, such are my Thoughts, and such my Resolutions, and though I am labouring very hard to get clear of the Vanities of Life, I hope shall not forget to behave myself with Civility and Respect, which the Good and Virtuous have a Right to demand from Your Lordship's most devoted, &c.