| Citation |
NHG-P.772.089
2 Oct 1772:11,12,13,21 (832)
From the Original Letters of Caspipina.
To the Right Hon. Lord Viscount P-----, Queen-Street,
Westminster.
My Lord,
Before this letter can possibly reach your Lordship, you
will have exchanged the calm scenes of philosophy, and the
pleasing converse of the muses for the noise of party, the
petulance of false patriotism, and the surer tho' gentler
operations of ministerial intrigue. Your Lordship indeed
enters the political theatre, not with a view of stepping
forth as an actor upon the stage, but as a candid spectator,
interested in the conduct of every particular scene, but
more deeply interested in winding up of the drama. . . [27
lines]
My attachment to America, I am apt to think, in a great
measure proceeds from the prospect of its growing greatness,
to which every day seems more or less to contribute. In
Europe, the several arts and sciences are almost arrived at
their meridian of perfection; at least, new discoveries are
less frequent now than heretofore.--Architecture, gardening,
agriculture, mechanics, are at a stand. The eye is weary
with a repetition of scenes, in which it discovers a
perpetual sameness, though heightened by all the refinements
of taste. Excellency itself, in works of human art, cloys
the faculties, if the mind is not now and then relieved by
objects of inferior beauty. After roving over the
magnificence of churches and palaces, we are glad to fix a
while upon the simple farmhouse or straw built cottage. We
feel a particular delight in tracing the windings of a
beautiful river from its fist springs 'till it empties
itself into the vast ocean.--The mind pursues it through a
vast tract of variegated country, and seems to flow, and
increase, and widen along with it, 'till it loses itself in
the abyss of waters.
The objects of art, as well as those of nature, in this
new world, are at present in such a state, as affords the
highest entertainment to these faculties of the mind. The
progression is begun: here and there, in the midst of
venerable woods, which scarce a century ago, were the
uncultivated haunts of roaming savages, the power of
cultivation presents itself to the traveller's view, in
opening lawns, covered with the richest verdure, fields of
corn, orchards; gardens, and meadows, fertilized by well-
directed streams--Hamlets, villages, and even populous
cities, with their towering spires, excite our admiration.--
We are struck with the charm of novelty, wherever we go--The
comparison is always at hand--For, within the compass of a
short mile, we may behold at once nature in her original
rusticity, and art rising by rapid advances to perfection.
The progress of the human mind may here likewise be
observed to keep equal pace with external improvements.--The
gradual polish of manners, from aukwardness itself even to
courtly civility; from superstitious notions, and bigotted
religious attachments to liberal and enlarged sentiments,
and genuine spiritual devotion may very readily be traced by
a thoughtful and inquisitive mind. All the powers of nature
seem to be upon the stretch, as if they were in pursuit of
something higher still, in science, in manners, in religion
itself, than the mother country can afford.
. . . [24 lines]
Religion stands on tip-toe in our land,
Ready to pass to the American strand.
When height of malice and prodigious lusts,
Impudent sinning, witcrafts [sic] and distrusts,
. . . [14 more lines of verse, and 67 lines of text, signed]
I am, My Lord, Your Lordship's most devoted friend, and
obliged servant,
T. Caspipina. Philadelphia, January 14, 1772.
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