LETTERS. LETTER I. THOMAS CHRISTIE, ESQ. EDINBURGH. Lichfield, Jan. 15, 1788. My Y sense of obligation is lively for * packets rich as I ever received in all that can amuse the fancy, enlarge the stock of ideas, and interest the heart. The few short hours in which I was gratified by your society, are registered in the volume of my memory, in characters that will be coeval with its existence. Long has it been my creed that, with minds and hearts of a congenial temperament, hours may supply the place of years, and * A tour through Derbyshire by Mr Christie, in which the character of the people, the soil, produce, and appearance of the country, its toil and manufactures, are investigated with philosophic accuracy, and with a lively perception of scenic beauty.-S. the fibres of friendship take root ere the next day's sun arise. Though performance was delayed, I did not doubt the fidelity of the promise ;-but looked forward to the delight I have now received from the perusal of your journals. With your mind, its pursuits, studies, and acquirements, the rich pages now on my table seem to have given me a perfect acquaintance. Apprehensive, from the style of your address to me, that you estimate mine too highly, I feel disposed to be, what, I trust, I have not often been, an absolute egotist; for I had rather voluntarily reveal you the scantiness of my stores, than that time should betray them. to To maintain household economy, social intercourse, and the established claims of a very large correspondence, I am obliged but very seldom to admit the visits of the Muses. With great fondness for literature, my life has been too much devoted to feminine employments to do much more than study, in every short and transient opportunity, but with eager avidity, and intense attention, that science, the first and fairest, "Which set on fire my youthful heart, And all my dreams, and all my wanderings shar'd And with those various essentials, which form its |