Tho bitter, dear PAINE, is this parting to me, The ardent desire which Mr. Paine ever had to retire to and dwell in his beloved America is strongly pourtrayed in the following letter to a female friend in that country, written some years before. "You touch me on a very tender point "when you say that my friends on your "side of the water cannot be reconciled to "the idea of my abandoning America even "for my native England. "They are right, I had rather see my "horse Button eating the grass of Borden"town or Morisania, than see all the pomp "and shew of Europe. "A thousand years hence, for I must indulge a few thoughts, perhaps in less, "America may be what Europe now is. "The innocence of her character that won "the hearts of all nations in her favour may "sound like a romance, and her inimitable "virtue as if it had never been. "The ruins of that liberty for which "thousands bled may just furnish materials "for a village tale, or extort a sigh from "rustic sensibility, whilst the fashionable of "that day, enveloped in dissipation, shall de"ride the principles and deny the fact. "When we contemplate the fall of empires and the extinction of the nations of "the ancient world we see but little more "to excite our regret than the mouldering "ruins of pompous palaces, magnificent mo numents, lofty pyramids, and walls and tow ers of the most costly workmanship; but "when the empire of America shall fall, the subject for contemplative sorrow will be in finitely greater than crumbling brass or "marble can inspire. It will not then be said, here stood a temple of vast antiquity, "here rose a babel of invisible height, or "there a palace of sumptuous extravagance; "but here (ah! painful thought!) the noblest "work of human wisdom, the grandest scene "of human glory, and the fair cause of "freedom, rose and fell! Read this, and then ask if I forget America." There is so uncommon a degree of interest, and that which conveys an idea of so much heart intercourse in this letter, that the reader may be led to be led to desire desire some knowledge of the person to whom it was addressed. This lady's name was I believe Nicholson, and afterwards the wife of Colonel Few; between her and Mr. Paine à very affectionate attachment and sincere regard subsisted, and it was no small mortification on his final return to New York to be totally neglected by her and her husband. But against the repose of Mr. Paine's dying moments there seems to have been a conspiracy, and this lady after years of disregard and inattention sought Mr. Paine on his death bed. Mr. Few was with her, but Mr. Paine, refusing to shake hands with her, said firmly and very impressively, "You have neglected "me, and I beg you will leave the room." Mrs. Few went into the garden, and wept bitterly. Of Mr. Paine's reception in America and some interesting account of his own life and its vicissitudes, his 'Letters to the Citizens of America,' before noticed, speak better than I can. These letters, under the care of Mr. Monroe, he sent me in 1804, and I published them, with the following one of his own accompanying them. "My dear Friend, "Mr. Monroe, who is appointed mi"nister extraordinary to France, takes charge "of this, to be delivered to Mr. Este, banker "in Paris, to be forwarded to you. "I arrived at Baltimore 30th of October, "and you can have no idea of the agitation "which my arrival occasioned. From New Hampshire to Georgia, (an extent of 1500 "miles) every newspaper was filled with applause or abuse. 66 My property in this country has been "taken care of by my friends, and is now "worth six thousand pounds sterling; which put in the funds will bring me £400 sterling a year. "Remember me in friendship and affec"tion to your wife and family, and in the "circle of our friends. "I am but just arrived here, and the "minister sails in a few hours, so that I "have just time to write you this. If he "should not sail this tide I will write to my "good friend Col. Bosville, but in any case "I request you to wait on him for me. "Your's in friendship, "THOMAS PAINE." What course he meant to pursue in Ame rica, his own words will best tell, and best |