Pierre Louys - "Les chansons de Bilitis"

Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa - "History of the Incas"

Roger Finlay - "The Wonder Island Boys: The Tribesmen"

Henry Edward Krehbiel - "A Second Book Of Operas"

Annual Bibliography of Commonwealth Literature 2007
This paper argues that discourses of love in Ghanaian market literature for youth offer a view into complex negotiations of agency and empowerment. Drawing on Deborah Durham's notion of youth as "social `shifters'" and Francis Nyamnjoh's conception of the "interconnectedness" of agency, I take Ghanaian market literature as one specific case of how African literature for youth foregrounds questions of continuity and change as African societies enter into increasingly complex global relations. In this literature for youth, received notions of love, often constructed out of impressions from American pop and hip hop music, carry new notions of agency that compete with existing "domesticated" forms. Authors like Ike Tandoh and Evelyn Tay employ discourses of love to offer youth alternative avenues for empowerment in a context of socio-economic disenfranchizement. In a creative process of "straddling", this writing both reveals and reproduces the contradictions that obtain in youth configurations of agency.

Memoirs of Aaron Burr, Volume 2.

M >> Matthew L. Davis >> Memoirs of Aaron Burr, Volume 2.




A. BURR.

P.S. I have not received a line from your mamma in some years. I am
not at all surprised at her repugnance to your marriage with a
democrat, the son of a rebel. She must hate, above all things,
democrats and rebels. But tell her, as doubtless you have told her a
thousand times, that she is wrong; and that we are not like your
French democrats. Encore, adieu.

A. BURR.



THEODOSIA TO JOSEPH ALSTON.

New-York, September 3, 1802.

What a pity minds could not be made sensible of each other's approach!
Why were we not so formed, that when your thoughts, your soul were
with your Theo., hers could be enabled, by the finest sensation of
sympathy, to meet it. How superior to writing would that be! A letter
is a month old before it is received; by that time other thoughts and
subjects engage the writer. The sentiments expressed in it seem no
longer warm from the heart. I have been all this evening divining your
occupation. Sometimes I imagine you writing or reading, and then the
hope that you are thinking of me arises. Pray what have you been
doing? If you can possibly recollect, let me know. After all, it is
more than probable that you have been smoking with Huger, entirely
absorbed in your society and segar.

How does your election advance? I am anxious to know something of it;
not from patriotism, however. It little concerns me which party
succeeds. Where you are, there is my country, and in you are centred
all my wishes.

Were you a Brutus, I should be a Roman. But were you a Caesar, I
should only wish glory to Rome that glory might be yours. As long as
you love me, I am nothing on earth but your wife and your friend:
contented and proud to be that.

Mr. M'Pherson is much better. He sits up--I mean out of bed, a great
part of the day. Mr.----- spent about three hours with him yesterday.
What a Chesterfieldian that is; he has not had the civility to call on
me, although you were so attentive to him. He has grown sentimental.
He caught a moscheto the other day, and kept it under a tumbler to
meditate on, because it reminded him of Carolina, and consequently of
Miss -----. What man under heaven ever before discovered an analogy
between a moscheto and his mistress? I am very happy you have chosen
chess for your amusement. It keeps you constantly in mind how poor
kings fare without their queens. Our little one has been very amiable
to-day. Adieu.

THEODOSIA.



TO JOSEPH ALSTON.

New-York, July 19, 1802.

On Saturday (17th) Mr. and Mrs. Alston, Lady Nisbett, and Charlotte
took passage for Red Hook. The wind has been so favourable that they
undoubtedly arrived yesterday before dinner. Charlotte had three or
four fits of ague and fever, but had escaped two days before she
sailed, and was again in health.

You will herewith receive the second book. The malice and the motives
are in this so obvious, that it will tend to discredit the whole. The
charges which are of any moment will be shown to be mere fabrications.
But there seems at present to be no medium of communication. The
printers, called republican in this city (Denniston and Cheetham), are
devoted to the Clintons, one of them (Denniston) being nephew of the
governor, and, of course, cousin to Dewitt. Wood, after absconding for
some time, returned to this city, was put in jail, where he lay some
days and until taken out by _Coleman_. You will shortly receive an
explanation of this controversy, but not from me. Very affectionately
yours,

A. BURR.



TO JOSEPH ALSTON.

New-York, August 2, 1802.

Your letter of the 18th is received. Mr. Williams had before shown me
the pamphlet, and had informed me that it had produced all the effect
that the writer could have wished, which is the best evidence of the
merit of the work. It is evidently a hasty performance, and
incorrectly printed, yet it displays ability as a writer, and
sentiments honourable to him as a man.

Wood's book has surprised us. We all expected a new series of abuse
against A.B. It should be entitled "The Confessions of John Wood, one
of the Conspirators lately associated with James Cheetham and Dewitt
Clinton against the vice-president." It shows pretty clearly the
motives and views of this clan.

The enclosed paper will give you the particulars of the affair of
Swartwout and Clinton. You will perceive that the latter indirectly
acknowledges that he is an agent in the calumnies against me.

I am about to take possession of Richmond Hill for the reception of
Theodosia and her boy, and shall go for them in about ten days. We
propose to pass part of September in Orange county.

The letter herewith enclosed came to me under a _blank_ cover; through
inattention, I broke the seal without looking at the superscription.
The first sentence betrayed my error, and I have scolded her a good
deal for her blank cover. Affectionately yours,

A. BURR.



TO THEODOSIA.

New-York, August 8, 1802.

With extreme reluctance, _madame_, I am constrained to resign to Dr.
Brown the honour of escorting you hither. The circumstances which have
led to this measure are briefly noted in a letter which I have this
day written you by the mail.

By Tuesday the 9th inst. I shall be settled at Richmond Hill, ready to
receive you and your incumbrances. Tell Mr. and Mrs. Alston, &c., that
I hope there to have the pleasure of accommodating them more to their
satisfaction than was in my power in the little mansion in Broadway.

The moment you shall receive this, send a line for me to the
postoffice, saying how you are, when you will move, &c. Leave with the
postmaster a written direction to forward to New-York all letters for
Mrs. Joseph Alston. I recommend to you to go round by Stockbridge to
see Binney. She is there at the house of Mr. Bidwell. You will also
there see your old great-uncle Edwards. But this is left to your
discretion. If you go through Pittsfield, you should call and see H.
Van Schaack, for whom Dr. Brown has a letter of credence. Make your
journey perfectly at your ease; _id est_, with dignified leisure.
Write me at every post-town, for I shall have a deal of impatience and
anxiety about you and your little nonentity.

All your friends here are well except George's dog and one of his
South Carolina birds. We are all in the bustle of moving. Heighho! for
Richmond Hill. What a pity you were not here, you do so love a bustle;
and then you, and the brat, and the maid, and thirty trunks would add
so charmingly to the confusion. Adieu.

A. BURR.



TO JOSEPH ALSTON.

New-York, September 8, 1802.

The debility and loss of appetite which your wife has experienced
alarmed me; yet I was totally ignorant of the cause. I was first
informed of it by Dr. Bard, who came accidentally to this city about a
fortnight ago. He, with Hosack and Brown, all of whom I consulted,
joined with me in opinion that she ought immediately to wean her child
or provide a wet nurse. This she peremptorily refused, and the bare
proposition occasioned so many tears and so much distress that I
abandoned it. Within the last three days, however, she has such a loss
of appetite and prostration of strength, that she is satisfied of the
necessity of the measure for the sake of the child, if not for
herself; and I have this day sent off a man to the country to find a
suitable nurse. The complaint continued from the period of her
_confinement_ during the whole time that she remained in Charleston.

It is most unfortunate that she left the Springs. While she was there,
either by means of the air or the water, or perhaps both, she had got
quite rid of the complaint, and there is no doubt but that, had she
remained there a fortnight longer, the cure would have been radical.
The ride to Hudson, only thirty miles, brought on a relapse; and, with
slight variations, the affliction was increased and her strength
diminished. Bard advised the Springs, and was quite angry that she
left them.

There is nothing in this disorder which immediately threatens life;
nor is it, at present, attended with pain; but if it should become
fixed upon her, of which there is danger unless speedily cured, it
will unfit her for every duty and every enjoyment in life. The
medicines, which under the direction of Bard she used at Lebanon, have
hitherto proved ineffectual since her return. I have written fully to
Eustis, and expect his answer within two or three days.

The present state of her health and strength will not, I think, admit
of an attempt to take her to either of the Springs, or I should not
hesitate to go off immediately with her. I have, however, strong and
well-grounded hopes that, when she shall have a nurse, and resume the
use of proper remedies, a cure will be effected.

I have thought that you ought to be informed of these facts, as well
to explain the varied accounts which you may have received of her
health, as to anticipate the vague or exaggerated relations which you
may receive through other channels.

Most affectionately yours,

A. BURR.



THEODOSIA TO JOSEPH ALSTON.

New-York, September 30, 1802.

Another mail has arrived, but to your Theo. it has brought only
unhappiness. It is now a week since I received your last letter. You
are ill. You have been imprudent, and all my fears are fulfilled.
Without any one near you to feel for you, to attend to you, to watch
every change and share every pain. Your wife only could do that. It is
her whose soul clings to yours, and vibrates but in harmony with it;
whose happiness, whose every emotion, more than entirely dependant on
yours, are exchanged for them. It is she only who forgets herself in
you, and who, in gratifying your wishes or alleviating your pain,
serves the interest nearest her heart. I know you have friends with
you; but, when you lose your vivacity, and your society is robbed of
its usual charms, they will find your chamber dull, and leave it for
some more amusing place. They cannot, like your little Theo., hang
over you in your sleep, and, with a beating heart, listen to every
groan and tremble at every noise. Your son, too, were we with you,
would charm away your cares. His smiles could not fail to sooth any
pain. They possess a magic which you cannot conceive till you see him.
Would we were with you, my beloved. I am miserable about you. Adieu.
Heaven bless my husband, and I am happy.

THEODOSIA.



THEODOSIA TO JOSEPH ALSTON.

New-York, October 30, 1802.

I have just received yours of the 21st. You already know the result of
my confinement in bed. It certainly relieved me for some time, which
proves how easily that cure would have succeeded at first. I have now
abandoned all hope of recovery. I do not say it in a moment of
depression, but with all my reason about me. I am endeavouring to
resign myself with cheerfulness; and you also, my husband, must summon
up your fortitude to bear with a sick wife the rest of her life. At
present, my general health is very good; indeed, my appearance so
perfectly announces it, that physicians smile at the idea of my being
an invalid. The great misfortune of this complaint is, that one may
vegetate forty years in a sort of middle state between life and death,
without the enjoyment of one or the rest of the other.

You will now see your boy in a few days, and you will really be very
much pleased with him. He is a sweet little rascal. If Heaven grant
him but to live, I shall never repent what he has cost me. Adieu.

THEODOSIA.



TO JOSEPH ALSTON.

New-York, October 15, 1802.

In my letter of yesterday I said nothing of your son. He is well, and
growing as you could wish. If I can see without prejudice, there never
was a finer boy.

Of yourself I have a good deal to say; more than I can find time to
write, and some things which cannot be written. Except the little
practical knowledge which you may have gained by mingling with your
committee-men, &c., your summer and autumn have, I perceive, been
lost--lost, I mean, as to literary acquirements. From your companions,
I presume, little is to be gained save the pastime of a social hour.
Yet time goes on, and you have much to do.

To the execution of any project, however, health is a sine qua non.
Whether you can ever enjoy it in Charleston or on Sullivan's Island
has become a problem in my mind. I was quite shocked with your wan
appearance when I first met you last spring. How different from that
which you took hence the fall preceding. With every advantage
attainable in your climate, you have scarcely been free from fever
during the season. This cannot fail to debilitate both mind and body.
If these hazards are to be annually encountered with similar effects,
and worse may be apprehended, it is a price far beyond the value of
any benefits which Charleston can offer. The _mountains_, a more
_Northern latitude_, or the _grave_, must be your refuge. Pray think
of these things. If I should not go to South Carolina this fall, nor
you come hither, let us meet in Washington next winter. After the
rising of your legislature, you may find time for that journey. But I
should prefer to see you here immediately after your election, if
there be time for your return before the session of the legislature.
Your health must require this change. _Here_ you may freeze out all
your "miasmata" and surplus bile in ten days, and go to Columbia with
nerves well strung and blood well purified.

My solicitude for your frequent appearance in courts is _no way_
diminished. The applause which I heard bestowed upon you sunk into my
heart. I could distinguish that which you merited from the fulsome
eulogy which was uttered through politeness. Your talent for writing
is enviable, and, with cultivation, will be unrivalled (nothing
without cultivation, remember). No one wishes so ardently as I do, not
even you, that these advantages should be improved. But these
considerations are unimportant compared with those which regard your
health.

If you should leave Charleston, give special orders about your
letters, for I may write what I should wish no one but you to see.
Affectionately adieu.

A. BURR.



TO JOSEPH ALSTON.

New-York, November 5, 1802.

The cold weather of the last ten days has had a happy effect on
Theodosia. She is so far restored that I can with confidence assure
you she will return in health. The boy, too, grows fat and rosy with
the frost. They have taken passage in the brig Enterprise, Captain
Tombs, the same with whom we came last June. She will have the control
of the cabin, and will be perfectly well accommodated. I regret she
will sail so soon (the 12th), as well because I cannot attend her as
that I could have wished her health and that of the boy to have been
still more confirmed. Yet I cannot any longer resist her impatience.
You must not delay your journey to Columbia in expectation of her
arrival. It is important that you be on the ground the first day, and
it is to be desired that you could be there two or three days before
the commencement of the session. If you should be gone, she projects
to follow you, of which I advise you, that you may leave your
directions. When you shall see her and son, you will not regret this
five months' separation. I rejoice that you are to meet Major Pinckney
on the floor of your assembly. "_The Citizen_" (Cheetham and
Denniston's), in publishing a list of members chosen in Charleston and
its vicinity, omitted your name; but took care to add, by way of
extract from a pretended letter, that the Alstons were of no
consideration or influence in South Carolina. There is no bound to the
malice of these people. The conspiracy was formed last winter at
Washington. A little reflection will indicate to you the description
of men, the motives, and the object of this combination.

Apologize for me to Ch. Marshall that I do not fulfil my engagement to
accompany him from Charleston to Washington. I hope you will bring him
with you.

Would Charles Lee accept the place of secretary of the Senate? It is
worth twenty-three hundred dollars per annum, and not laborious. The
secretary, you know, is chosen by the Senate. Otis, the present
incumbent, will probably decline. If you should think that Lee would
desire it, and the thing should appear to you proper, it should be
suggested to your senators. Of the legislative subjects mentioned in
one of your letters, I hope to find time to say a word on Sunday (7th
inst.). God bless you.

A. BURR.



TO THEODOSIA.

New-York, December 4, 1802.

So you arrived on the 24th, after a passage of ten days; you and the
Charleston packet on the same day. All this I learned last night; not
from you. Vanderlyn and I drank a bottle of Champagne on the occasion.

Though this relieves me from the great anxiety under which I laboured,
still there are many details of your passage, your arrival, &c., on
which nothing but your letter can satisfy me. For some unknown reason,
the mail is now eighteen days on the road.

Vanderlyn has finished your picture in the most beautiful style
imaginable. When it was done, he exclaimed with enthusiasm, "There is
the best work I have ever done in America."

Your letter must be addressed to Washington. The dear little boy, I
hope, made a good sailor. Adieu.

A. BURR.



TO THEODOSIA.

New-York, December 16, 1802.

Your letter of the 26th November came yesterday, that of the 25th the
day preceding. You see, therefore, that twenty-one days had elapsed
from the time of your arrival to the receipt of your first letter.
This is not by way of reproach, for it is an unpleasant truth that,
for the last six or eight weeks, the Charleston mail has been twenty
days on the way. Had it not been for the intelligence by water of your
safe arrival, we should have concluded that you and Kate [1] were now
dancing with Amphitrite. How jealous her majesty would have been at
the presence of two such rivals.

The day after you left us, though the weather was mild, not even a
frost, the leaves of the trees about the house began to fall, and in
three days they were as bare as in midwinter, though you may recollect
that you left them in perfect verdure. This, I am sure, was sympathy
and regret. I shall respect these trees for their sensibility. It was
in harmony with my feelings; for, truly, all was dreary.

Yes, I enter into all your little vexations; but while I write, and
long before, they probably have passed away, and are succeeded by new
ones. Kate will help you to laugh them off. Kiss her for me. Not a
word, not a line from your husband since the 30th of October. We
ought, nay, we must, every day add something to our experience, and
usually at some cost.

I expect to leave this in about a week. Henceforth, therefore, address
me at Washington. On my arrival there we will begin to talk of our
spring and summer plans. You did well, very well to give up the
Columbia project. I really wish you had given the pair of horses in
your own name. In all such cases, that which is most grateful to you
will be so to me. Butter shall be sent. The card plate must be
altered.

_Maybe_ I may write you from Philadelphia; not again from this city,
unless I should receive from you something very pretty. Vanderlyn
projects to visit Charleston, but I am sure he will not. He is run
down with applications for portraits, all of which, without
discrimination, he refuses. He is greatly occupied in finishing his
Niagara views, which, --indeed, will do him honour. They will be four
in number, and he thinks of having them engraved in France. You hear
the roaring of the cataract when you look at them. Kiss the dear
little boy. Adieu, ma belle.

A. BURR.



TO THEODOSIA.

Washington, January 26, 1803.

Your last letter, and the only one received within a month, is dated
the 14th inst., and written, I suppose, at your plantation. It gives
me the satisfaction of knowing that you and your boy are well, and
nothing more. How long you are to remain there, where next to go, and
every thing leading to a knowledge of your occupations and intentions,
is omitted. One half of the letter is a complaint of my silence, and
the other half (nearly) an apology for yours, You know (or am I now to
tell you) that you and your concerns are the highest, the dearest
interest I have in this world; one in comparison with which all others
are insignificant.

Recollect, my dear Theodosia, that in five weeks Congress will adjourn
(3d March); that I shall then go in some direction, but in what is yet
unsettled; that my movements will depend essentially on yours. Tell
me, therefore, where you are to pass the summer, when you are to leave
Charleston, and all the details. If these matters should not yet be
settled, let it be forthwith done. If you are not to go northward, it
is not probable that I shall see you in some time, for I have thoughts
of going on a tour through the western country, which, if executed,
will consume the whole summer. I offer you and your family Richmond
Hill for the season, and will meet you there in May or June, or when
you please. Perhaps would come to make the voyage with you, by land or
water. Sullivan's Island will not, I hope, be thought of. How is it
that I have not a line from _Mari_, in answer to several letters which
I wrote him from New-York?

I entreat you to answer this letter distinctly, and in all its parts;
for there will not be time for another letter and reply before I shall
be off. My love to Kate. You do not say whether she grows handsome or
ugly, nor is it any matter which while on the plantation.

I can't conceive how you all stow yourselves in that little wreck of a
mansion. Please to write over, in some way, the erased part of your
letter. You must be very destitute of wit and contrivance. No essence
in Washington. I still prefer musk, but not to be had. One would think
you had suffered some injury from perfumes. Your message and
commission to Mrs. Madison will be delivered. My mode of life,
establishment, &c., are the same as last year, except that I bought a
chariot, having some hope of seeing you and your husband here. As I
shall not write again until I hear where you are, I may as well say
now all that occurs to me.

On my way through Philadelphia I rode out to Lansdown, to see our
beautiful little K. and Mrs. L. They appear to love you with all their
hearts. K. especially talked of you with an interest which could not
be affected. The ladies find fault with her dress, her person, her
manners; in short, with every thing appertaining to her. Mrs. L. has
also her full share of the eulogium. K. is _toujours belle_. At
Wilmington I did not see friend S. She had gone to church. God bless
thee.

A. BURR



TO DR. JOHN COATS.

Washington, February 23, 1803.

It is from me, my dear sir, that apologies are due; but you have
kindly anticipated all I could make. I thank you for this instance of
your goodness; for your friendly recollection; above all, for the
justice you do to my heart and feelings. Your last letter has been
received. It is without date, and came by the mail of yesterday. You
see that I am resolved not to furnish a new occasion for apologies by
further negligence. Whether, after the adjournment, I shall go North
or South, is yet undetermined. If northward, I propose to take the
route which you had the goodness to describe, and to pass at least
some hours with you. I shall insist on a dish of lillipee, in order to
give a more dramatic effect to the review which we will take of past
scenes.

Dearborn, now minister of war, was our fellow-traveller through the
wilderness. If you will designate more particularly the papers you
wish to recover, I will with pleasure make search for them. Accept, I
pray you, the assurance of my undiminished regard and esteem.

A. BURR.



FROM THEODOSIA.

Clifton, March 17, 1802.

Ever since the date of my last letter, for it was not forwarded till
some days after, I have been quite ill; till within these two or three
days totally unable to write. The whole family, as well as myself, had
begun to think pretty seriously of my last journey; but, fortunately,
I have had the pleasure of keeping them up a few nights, and drawing
forth all their sensibility, without giving them the trouble of
burying, mourning, &c.

I was one night so ill as to have lost my senses in a great measure;
about daylight, as a last resource, they began plying me with old
wine, and blisters to my feet. But, on recovering a little, I kicked
off the blisters, and declared I would be dressed; be carried in the
open air, and have free use of cold water. I was indulged. I was
carried below, where I drank plentifully of cold water, and I had my
face, neck, and arms bathed with it, and it assisted most
astonishingly in recovering me. The day before yesterday I was put on
a bed in a boat and brought here. The change of air and scene have
assisted me wonderfully. I am again getting well. Indeed, the rapidity
with which I gain strength surprises the whole family. The secret is,
that my constitution is good. I exert myself to the utmost, feeling
none of that pride, so common to my sex, of being weak and ill.
Delicacy and debility are sometimes fascinating when affected by a
coquette, adorned with the freshness of health; but a pale, thin face;
sunken, instead of languishing eyes; and a form, evidently tottering,
not gracefully bending, never, I suspect, made, far less could they
retain a conquest, or even please a friend. I therefore encourage
spirits, try to appear well, and am rewarded. In a few days I shall be
on the high road to health. Mari is well, and the boy charming. Adieu.

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