To Mr. James Hamilton

DEAR SIR, I send you by John Glover, carrier, the account for Mr. Turnbull, as I suppose you know his address. I would fain offer, my dear Sir, a word of sympathy with your misfortunes; but it is a tender string, and I know not how to touch it. It is easy to flourish a set of high-flown sentiments on the subjects that would give great satisfaction to—a breast quite at ease; but as ONE observes, who was very seldom mistaken in the theory of life, "The heart knoweth its own sorrows, and a stranger intermeddleth not therewith." Among some distressful emergencies that I have experienced in life, I ever laid this down as my foundation of comfort—_That he who has lived the life of an honest man, has by no means lived in vain!_ With every wish for your welfare and future success, I am, my dear Sir, Sincerely yours, R. B.