But I want more engravings, Vitruvius, Magna Græcia, the Ionian Antiquities, &c. Meanwhile, I have got out all our tours in Italy. Forsyth, a book I always loved much, I have re-read with increased pleasure, by this new light. Goethe, too, studied architecture while in Italy; so his books are full of interesting information; and Madame De Stael, though not deep, is tasteful.’
‘American History! Seriously, my mind is regenerating
as to my country, for I am beginning to appreciate
the United States and its great men. The violent
antipathies, — the result of an exaggerated love for,
shall I call it by so big a name as the “poetry of being?”
— and the natural distrust arising from being forced to
hear the conversation of half-bred men, all whose petty
feelings were roused to awkward life by the paltry
game of local politics, — are yielding to reason and
calmer knowledge. Had I but been educated in the
knowledge of such men as Jefferson, Franklin, Rush!
I have learned now to know them partially. And I
rejoice, if only because my father and I can have so
much in common on this topic. All my other pursuits
have led me away from him; here he has much
information and ripe judgment. But, better still, I hope to
feel no more that sometimes despairing, sometimes
insolently contemptuous, feeling of incongeniality with
my time and place. Who knows but some proper and
attainable object of pursuit may present itself to the
cleared eye? At any rate, wisdom is good, if it brings
neither bliss nor glory.’
‘March, 1834. — Four pupils are a serious and
fatiguing charge for one of my somewhat ardent and
