(seq. 55)

[fol. 1r]

No 20. Brookline, Jan. 22. 1799.

My dear friend,

I resume my pen with a sincere
desire of reviving our slumbering correspondence. Little
did I think, when we commenced it, and wrote to each
other with such frequency and zeal, that eighteen months
would ever pass without the exchange of a single letter
To me this seems the more unaccountable, as previously
to that period, our connexion was, if possible, rendered more
intimate by your alliance with a family very dear to me,
and by my entrance, as a fellow laborer, into the vine-
yard of our common Lord and Master. Though I must
plead neglect, on my part; yet I cannot confess it to
be designed neglect. For I must sincerely say, I have ever
has every possible inducement to maintain our com-
merce unimpaired. That this has not been the case, I must
impute to that procrastinating disposition, which has often
cost me many a sigh of repentance. With the new
year I begin new resolutions, hoping that they will
meet your ready concurrence, and that they will not, like
our resolutions in general, prove ineffectual.

I promised to write immediately after my last
visit. But your goodness will readily form an apology for
my partial breach of engagement. I have, since that time,
passed through one of the most interesting scenes of
my life. Ah! how soon are those loose ideas dispelled, which
arise from the impulse of youthful passion, and from in-
tercourse with immodest companions, when we enter the