I have been up since half past one. Yesterday I dined by accident with Mr. K. at the Union in Georgetown, and though I had toast and water, I missed my milk. I drank, too, at the earnest recommendation of some of the party, some old Port wine, which has done me no good. My dinner was the lean of a very fine haunch of venison, without any gravy, and a little rice. Since it began to rain (about an hour ago) I have felt as restless as a leech in a weather glass, and so I sit down to write to you. On Saturday I had a narrow escape from a most painful death. Wildfire dashed off with me on the avenue, alarmed at a tattered wagon-cover, shivering in the wind, and would have dashed us both to pieces against an Italian poplar; but when she was running full butt against it, and not a length off, by a violent exertion of the left heel and right hand I bore her off. There was not the thickness of the half quire of paper on which I

For my complaint.

am writing between my body and the tree. Had I worn a great-coat, or cloth boots, I must have touched — perhaps been dragged off by them: and had I been without spurs, I must have lost my life; for the centre of her forehead and that of the body of the tree, nearly, or quite two feet in diameter, were approaching to contact. You know my great liking for this exotic, which our tasteless people have stuck every where about them. I shall, hereafter, dislike it more than ever. In the course of my life I have encountered some risks, but nothing like this. My heart was in my mouth for a moment, and I felt the strongest convictions of my utter demerit in the sight of God, and my heart gushed out in thankfulness for his signal and providential preservation. What, thought I, would have been my condition had I then died. " As the tree falls, so it must lie." And I had been but a short time before saying to a man, who tried to cheat me, some very hard and bitter things. It was a poor auctioneer, who had books on private sale. He attempted to impose upon me in respect to some classical books of which he was entirely ignorant, and I exposed his ignorance to the people in the shop, many of whom were members of Congress, and no better informed than him. The danger that I escaped was no injury to the speech which I made out of breath, on finding, when I reached the house, that there was a call for the previous question. So true is it, that of all motives, religious feeling is the most powerful.

I am reading, for the second time, an admirable novel called " Marriage." It is commended by the great unknown in his "Legend of Montrose." I wish you would read it. Perhaps it might serve to palliate some of your romantic notions (for I despair of a cure) on the subject of love and marriage. A man who marries a woman that he does not esteem and treat kindly, is a villain: but marriage was made for man; and if the woman be good-tempered, healthy, (a qualification scarcely thought of now-a-days, all-important as it is,) chaste, cleanly, economical, and not an absolute fool, she will make him a better wife than nine out often deserve

to have. To be sure, if to these beauty and understanding be added, all the better. Neither would I quarrel with a good fortune, if it has produced no ill effect on the possessor — a rare case.

I was in hopes you would not let G. carry off E. from you. That you may soon possess her, or some other fair lady, is my earnest wish. The cock crows for day, I suppose; but it is yet dark, and I wish you good morning. " It vanish'd at the crowing of the cock." Show this to Dr. B. Yours, truly,

JOHN RANDOLPH, of Roanoke.

Your letter of the 2d is just received. I will not, nevertheless, cancel this, which I must close to save the post.

I have seldom, if ever, received a letter from you that gratified me more than that of yesterday, which I had barely time to acknowledge in two lines of postscript. Your medical advice is very thankfully received, and will be followed, (I shall first give the milk a fair trial,) so far as my own experience does not run counter to it. Your reluctance hitherto towards giving it, has more than once been noted by me, and ascribed to its real cause. I have found, however, a valuable counsellor in our kinsman, Dr. Hall, for such he is; his great grandfather, on the mother's side, being Robert Boiling, brother to Drury Boiling, my maternal great grandfather, from whom you are removed one generation far-

ther; which Drury and Robert were sons of Robert B., (of the West Riding of York, Boiling Hall, near Bradford,) by his second wife, Miss Srith; (his first being the grand-daughter of Pocahontas, by whom he had one son, John, from whom, by his wife, Mary Kennon, my paternal grandmother sprang.) From this first marriage, descend the Boilings of Chesterfield and Buckingham, in the male line; and the Curies Randolphs, Flemings, Gays, Eldridges, and Murrays, in the female.

As I have recommended " Marriage" to you, (the book, I mean,) this digression on genealogy, and, perhaps, some other coincidences, may remind you of the " very sensible Miss Jacky," and her agreeable sisters. You entirely mistake my mode of life: I am very rarely out of bed at nine, and when I exceed that hour, it is not at " evening parties." I have been at several, but rarely failed to be at home before nine. Last night I was seduced, by a book, to go beyond that hour, a little. Do you suppose (requiring so much rest as I do) that I could rise every morning before the dawn, if I sat (or, as the V. P. says, "sot," most " unhappily,") up late at night? The other day I dined at the French minister's. It was Saturday; "Mrs. De N's. night." At half past seven we joined the evening visiters, and at half past eight I was snug in bed. To be sure, I was politely reproached, as I was going away, by the Count de Menou, (secretary of the legation,) whom I met on the staircase, and since by his principal, for going away so early; but my plea of weak health satisfied their jealousy. This is felt, and shown, too, by all here, in the highest ranks of fashion. The De N's., however, are good people. Madame is charity itself. The poor will miss her when she goes away. One of her sayings deserves to be written in letters of gold: " When the rich are sick, they ought to be starved; but when the poor are sick, they should be well fed." This is no hid medical precept.

I cannot " go" the " Cogniac." I had ratber die, than drink, habitually, brandy and water. Look around you, and

see its ravages. Thank God, it does not possess any allurement for me. I have sometimes been the better for a little brandy toddy, but I have not tasted spirits for six weeks, or more; and never shall again, but as medicine. Genuine Madeira is the only thing, except good water, that I can drink with pleasure, or impunity: not always with the last; sometimes with neither. It was the pearl ashes that I was advised to use by Mr. Colden. It is, I believe, a refined potash. I knew its caustic quality, which the salt of tartar also possesses in a less degree. I substitute a weak solution of it (salt of tartar) for the charcoal powder, in cleaning my teeth. The pearl ashes I gave up at first trial.

Rely upon it, that to love a woman as "a mistress," although a delicious delirium, an intoxication far surpassing that of Champagne, is altogether unessential, nay, pernicious, in the choice of a wife; which a man ought to set about in his sober senses — choosing her, as Mrs. Primrose did her wedding-gown, for qualities that " wear well." I am well persuaded, that few love-matches are happy ones. One thing, at least, is true, that if matrimony has its cares, celibacy has no pleasures. A Newton, or a mere scholar, may find employment in study: a man of literary taste can receive in books a powerful auxiliary; but a man must have a bosom friend, and children around him, to cherish and support the dreariness of old age. Do you remember A. V.? He could neither read nor think; any wife, even a scolding one, would have been a blessing to that poor man. After all, " suitability " is the true foundation for marriage. If the parties be suited to one another, in age, situation in life, (a man, indeed, may descend, where all else is fitting,) temper, nd constitution, these are the ingredients of a happy marriage— or, at least, a convenient one — which is all that people of experience expect. I will not quote Rochefoucault, or S. Jthnson, in support of this; and yet I cannot refrain

I have not used half a pint, since I cannot tell when — six months, at least.

from referring you to five lines of the latter, which the author has placed in the title page of Marriage."

If my life were to go over again, I should make a very different sort of thing of it, from what it is. Community of tastes and pursuits, very often vicious ones, are the foundation of most youthful friendships. I was most fortunate in two — Rutledge and Bryan. As for Banister, he was as a brother, from infancy; I could not go amiss in him. One great mistake that young people commit, is associating with persons of their own age, &c, but greatly above them in point of fortune. One young man can, perhaps, afford to spend a thousand dollars, where one hundred would embarrass the finances of his companion. This last must sink into a led captain, a boon companion, or sot; or, perhaps, commit forgery, or breach of trust, to keep way with the rest. Archer said to me last night, " When a young man conducts himself so as to be forced to borrow from his companions, his independence and self-respect are gone." It is true.

At last, a letter from Barksdale. It came with Johnson's, about five minutes ago. He writes — "There is a general movement in the neighbourhood: Everard Meade goes to the Falls of the Black Warrior; Banister, after wavering some time, between Norfolk and Winchester, has, at length, decided in favour of Petersburg; and the Egglestons and Archers, some to Kentucky and others to Florida." He, too, is about to sell out, and remove. He dates, the 1st of February. Mrs. R., of Obslo, is not now despaired of. By this time, if not before, you must be heartily tired. Roanoke begins to look alive. In a month, or two, he may be fit to ride. When I "/en/" him, he was seal fat, and in the highest condition. The little mare, (in like order,) had just been used up by the same person. Yours,

JOHN RANDOLPH, of Roanoke. Dr. Dudley.

The southern mail is late to-day: it is half past two, and your letter, enclosed herein, is just received. I must request that my last to you be not put out of your possession. So much of it as is extracted from that to Mrs. Crocket, which I declined to send, you can extract and send her, but no more. It is marked, I think, with inverted commas. Or, if you enclose it to me, I will make the proper extract, and send it to you, together with the letter itself — I mean mine to you.