With my best love to all, I am, as ever, Helen. Rest assured, dear madam, that your long continued kindness will not be forgotten, but will ever command the gratitude and service of Yours most respectfully & truly, Horace H. Hinman. Whatever may betide, you have the warm and earnest sympathy of Your faithful & affectionate cousin, Jane. The undersigned has the honor to avail himself of this opportunity to renew to the Secretary of State of the United States the assurance of his distinguished consideration. Hon. W. L. Marcy, Secretary of State, &c. John F. Crampton. § 436. We subjoin four specimens of the different kinds of letters. The first is a business letter, given by a person of known responsibility to a friend, to enable the latter to procure goods on time. It is commonly called a letter of credit. The second is a letter of introduction. The third is a letter of friendship, from Campbell to the poet Thomson, descriptive of a visit to Fingal's Cave. The fourth is in a more familiar style, being one of Moore's letters to his mother. The student is particularly requested to notice their charac teristics. Gentlemen, No. 1. LETTER OF CREDIT. September 15, 1854. Please deliver to Richard Berry, of this place, goods, silks, and merchandise, to any amount not exceeding five thousand dollars; and I will hold myself accountable to you for the payment of the same, in case Mr. Berry should fail to make payment therefor. You will please to notify me of the amount for which you may give him credit; and, if default should be made in the payment, let me know it immediately. I am, gentlemen, your most obt. servant, Messrs. Isaac Smith & Co., No. 25 Broadway, N. Y. John Anderson. My dear Sir, No. 2. LETTER OF INTRODUCTION. St. Louis, Jan. 8, 1854. Allow me to introduce to you my friend, Cyrus Johnson, a distinguished teacher of this place, who visits your city for the purpose of making himself acquainted with the system of instruction pursued in your common schools. He is one whose life thus far has been devoted to the cause of education, and whose efforts have already been signally blessed to hundreds of our youth. Any aid, therefore, that you may be able to render him in the prosecution of his inquiries, will be a service to our whole community, as well as a personal favor to Yours very truly, Henry F. Quinn. My dear Friend, Thule's Wildest Shore, 15th day of the Harvest Storm; I have deferred answering your very welcome favor till I could inform you of the accomplishment of my long meditated tour through the Western Isles. Though I have been disappointed in my expectations of seeing St. Kilda, yet I have no reason to be dissatisfied with my short voyage, having visited the famous Staffa and Icolmkill, so much admired by your countrymen. I had formed, as usual, very sanguine ideas of the happiness I should enjoy in beholding wonders so new to me. I was not in the least disappointed. The grand regularity of Staffa, and the venerable ruins of Iona, filled me with emotions of pleasure to which I had been hitherto a stranger. It was not merely the gratification of curiosity; for these two islands are marked with a grand species of beauty, besides their novelty, and a remarkable difference from all the other islands among the Hebrides. In short, when I looked into the cave of Staffa, I regret ted nothing but that my friend was not there too. Staffa, the nearest to Mull, and the most admirable of all the Hebrides, is but a small island, but exceedingly fertile. From one point to another, it is probably an English mile. The shore is boisterous and rocky near the sea; but at the distance of twenty yards from its rugged base, it rises for thirty or forty feet into a smooth, stony, plain, gradually sloping to the bottom of the rocks, which rise perpendicularly to a vast height, and form the walls of the island. On the top of these are rich plains of grass and corn, in the centre of which stands a lonely hut, in appearance very like the abode of a hermit or savage. The walls of the island (for so I beg leave to denominate the rocks that form its sides) are truly wonderful. They are divided into natural pillars, of a triangular shape. These pillars are not a random curiosity, broken and irregular. They are as exactly similar and well proportioned, as if the hand of an artist had carved them out on the walls with a chisel. The range of them is so very long and steep that we cannot admit the idea of their being wrought by human hands. There is a wildness and sublimity in them beyond what art can produce; and we are so struck with its regularity that we can hardly allow Nature the merit of such an artificial work. Certain it is, if Art accomplished such a curiosity, she has handled instruments more gigantic than any which are used at present; and if Nature designed the pillars, she has bestowed more geometry on the rocks of Staffa, than on any of her works so stupendous in size. The cave of Staffa is at least three hundred feet long, lined with long stripes of pillars of the same kind, and hung at the top with stones of an exact figure of five sides. The height is reventy feet, so that, being very wide, it appears like a very large Gothic cathedral Its arch is gradually narrowed at the top, and its base, except the footpath on one side, is the sea which comes in. We entered the mouth of the cave with a peal of bagpipes, which made a most tremendous echo. Icolmkill is venerable for being the burial-place of forty-eight Scotch, and eight Danish kings, whose tombs we saw. Our voyage lasted three days. I slept the first night at Icolmkill, the second at Tiree, and the third again at Mull. If I had room, I would scribble down an elegy, composed a few days after my arrival in Mull from Glasgow; but you see I have clattered away all my paper upon Staffa. I depend upon your good-nature to excuse my prolix description, and the illegible scrawling of your very sincere friend, LE CAMILLE Mr. James Thomson, London. No. 4. Aboard the Boston, My darling Mother, Sandy Hook, thirty miles from New York, I wrote to you on my arrival at New York, where I have been nearly a week, and am now returned aboard the frigate, which but waits a fair wind to sail for Norfolk. The Halifax packet is lying alongside of us, and I shall take the opportunity of sending this letter by her. At New York, I was made happy by my father's letter of the 25th January, and dear Kate's of the 30th, which make four in all that I have received from home. I had so very few opportunities at Bermuda, and they were attended with so much uncertainty, that I fear you may have suffered many an anxious moment, darling mother, from the interruption and delay of the few letters I could despatch to you. But, please Heaven! we shall soon have those barriers of distance removed; my own. tongue shall tell you my "travel's history," and your heart shall go along with me over every billow and step of the way. When I left Bermuda, I could not help regretting that the hopes which took me thither could not be even half realized; for I should love to live there, and you would like it too, dear mother: and I think if the situation would give me but a fourth of what I was so deludingly taught to expect, you should all have come to me; and, though set apart from the rest of the world, we should have found in that quiet spot, and under that sweet sky, quite enough to counterbalance what the rest of the world could give us. But I am still to seek, and can only hope that I may find at last. The environs of New York are pretty, from the number of little, fanciful, wooden houses that are scattered, to the distance of six to eight miles, round the city; but when one reflects upon the cause of this, and that these houses are the retreat of the terrified, desponding, inhabitants, from the wilderness of death which every autumn produces in the city,* there is very little pleasure in the prospect; and, notwithstanding the rich fields, and tue various blossoms of their orchards, I prefer the barren, breezy, rock of Bermuda, to whole continents of such dearly purchased fertility. While in New York, I employed my time to advantage in witnessing all the novelties possible. I saw young M. Buonaparte, and felt a slight shock of an earthquake which are two things I could not often meet with upon Usher's Quay. From Norfolk I intend going to Baltimore and Washington; if possible, also to Philadelphia and Boston, from thence to Halifax. From Halifax I hope to set sail, în the cabin where I now Reference is here made to the yellow fover, which, at the time this letter was written, prevailed in New York, to a greater or less extent, every year. write this letter, for the dear old isles of the Old World again; and I think it probable that twelve months from the time I left England, will very nearly see me on its coasts Your own, once more. * EXERCISE. T. M. Somewhat in the style of the above models, write a LETTER OF CREDIT, and a LETTER OF INTRODUCTION. LESSON XCVII. LETTERS (CONTINUED). § 437. Folding and Sealing. As envelopes are now generally used for enclosing letters, the most convenient mode of folding is as follows:-As the sheet lies before you, turn up the bottom until its edge exactly lies upon the edge at the top, and make a fold in the middle. The sheet is now in an oblong form. Bring the side at your right hand to your body, and fold over about one third of the letter towards the top. Finally, turn as much of the upper part over in the opposite direction. Most envelopes are self-sealing; that is, are furnished with a glutinous substance, which, on being moistened, answers the purpose of a seal. When this convenience is wanting, a wafer is generally used; in which case, care must be taken not to make it so wet as to spread and soil the adjacent parts. The use of the wafer, however, implies haste; and those who study etiquette, almost without exception, give the preference to sealing-wax. Indeed, according to Lord Chesterfield, the use of the wafer is open to a still more serious objection than the mere implying of haste. This nobleman is said, on having received a letter sealed with the obnoxious article in question, to have remarked with some indignation, "What does the fellow mean by sending me his own spittle?" If no envelope is used, but the old-fashioned mode of folding is follow § 437. What are now generally used for enclosing letters? Describe the most con venient mode of folding. With what are most envelopes furnished? When this convenience is wanting, what is generally used? In the use of the wafer, what must be avoided? To what do those who study etiquette give the preference? Why? What was Lord Chesterfield's objection to the wafer? If the old-fashioned mode of folding is followed, what must be avoided in putting on the seal? ed, be careful that the seal, whether was or wafer, is so placed, that the opening of the letter will not render any part of the writing illegible. § 438. Superscription.-The superscription of a letter is the direction on the outside, consisting of the name of the person addressed, and the place and state in which he lives. In directing, be careful not to apply to a person two titles that mean the same thing; as, Mr. Robert Jones, Esq.; Dr. Edward Sayre, M. D. In the first example, either Mr. or Esq. should be omitted; and, in the last, either Dr. or M. D. When a letter is not sent by mail, out is taken by private hand, it is customary to acknowledge the favor by placing on the outside, at the lower corner on the left, the bearer's name, in some such expression as the following:-" Politeness of Mr. -"; "Courtesy of Mrs. "Favored by Miss -". -"; A letter of introduction should contain, in the same position as the above, the name of the person introduced, in some such form as the following:-"Introducing Mr. -"; "To introduce Mr. § 439. A short letter is called a Note. Business notes have the same form as letters. Notes of invitation should be written on small sheets, called, from the use to which they are appropriated, note-paper. It is customary, in writing notes, to use the 3d person instead of both the 1st and 2d, as in the example given below. Care must be taken to avoid the common error of introducing the 1st or 2d person, after the "Mrs. White presents 3d has been thus employed; as in the following: her compliments to Mr. Roy, and solicits the pleasure of your [instead of his] company on Monday evening, the 4th inst. Miss In notes, the oldest or only daughter of a family is addressed as no other name being used; when there are other daughters, they are distinguished by their Christian names. If Mr. David Temple, for instance, has three daughters, Caroline, Mary, and Cornelia, the first is properly addressed as Miss Temple; the second, as Miss Mary Temple; and the third, as Miss Cornelia Temple. On the death or marriage of § 438. What is meant by the superscription of a letter? In directing, what must we avoid? Give examples. When a letter is taken by private hand, how is it customary to acknowledge the favor? What should a letter of introduction contain on the back, besides the superscription? § 439. What is a note? What form have business notes? On what should notes of invitation be written? In what person does the writer speak of himself? In what, of the person addressed? Against what common error is the writer cautioned? In notes, how is the oldest daughter of a family addressed? How, t` other daughters? |