As you are a Philosopher[2] I suppose you will think I have great humility or great temerity to send you my Compositions in verse making but I like them very well myself, and if I could write better I would - Samuel still hankers after the Athénée,[3] and I am inclined to think Gembloux would be the more desirable - He has naturally a greatp2dislike to bodily exertion and that being an Agricultural College, he would have a mixture of bodily and mental Occupation - I am by no means an advocate for cultivating the mental faculties alone especially when unaccompanied by religious instruction There is a very good motto of the Wesleyan Methodists[4] Knowledge is Power but it only enables the irreligious and unprincipled Man to be more extensively mischievous” -p3My notion is that it would be an act of Charity to do all we can with Samuel until Christmas - & then if nothing satisfactory can be decided for him we must I think leave his Conversion[5] to God’s time & moment - & get him some healthful employment for his hands, as wel as his head - You spoke of some Priest coming to him - I should be very glad for I cannot proceed this the wet & dirt to the Josephine Sisters - and I am notp4progressing with my French Education satisfactorily - Samuel still seems very firm in his attachment to you but adheres most positively to his dislike of religious instruction - Mr Algar spoke of the Boy never having had a chance of instruction before - but he is labouring under a mistake He was 16 Months with the Marist Brothers[6] 6 Months at Sedgeley Park & 2 Years with Mr Dunn a Catholic School Master at Clifton -p5but he was with an elder Brother,[7] and I felt anxious to give him a chance, by removing him from any Protestant influence I thank you very very much for your Kindness to him and if it fails now - we will still hope that at some future day it may bear fruit -
I hope Samuel will meet with you today - & with much respect
Gembloux is not Samuel’s taste I shall I hope see Dr Ledbitter tomorrow,[8] and it may turn out brighter than I expect
I wish to tender thee accept
Some little flaw in which throth[9] ?is[10]
Mystical Rose Oh pray for me
A Choicer bouquet make poverly
But well thou knewest my flaw & take
And therefore with my field & creatures
And only thy bright virtues of sorrows
Would kiss thy sweet hands Queen be few
With Tears of love thy feet
p8Fain would I sing thy glorious merits in sin
Who never knew the xxxsten
With a Saints or Serpahs power
Queen of Grief & suffering
Deign to own me for thy Child
Pray thy Son to bless, and make me
Like thee peaceful chaste Child
And thy brow been pressed by care
May I task thy gentle spirit
If I in thy sorrow share
p9I implore thy Son to make me humble
Free from Guile and free from pride
So imitate thy perfect patience
And never never leave thy side
p10Some veg ’rous frames the xxxxx sure can bear,
That winds hot rains and pestilential air
They seem unharmed xxx matized, but slow
They faint and feeble dry and withered grow
The Soul will sicken in some space of time
With some it kills with fierce and sudden panic
With some it holds a lingering life in Chains
p11Then send me storm or sunshine dew or shower
Directed by thy tender love and power –
The darkest storm and howling whirlwinds sweep
Shall break those chains not faster then more deep
Can give me strength with sorrows’ cap to bear
Support & cheer me in my last dread breaths
And bed thy Angels guard my bed of deaths –
p12Thy Virgin Daughter pure as spotless snow
Sweet martyred Mary drank the dregs of woe
Her dear Maternal heart was filled with pain
That such as I should never dare complain
With anguished heart becording her sad loss
With loving sympathy her grief I see
She accepts the sympathy and prays for me -
p13
Christmas I welcome thee once more – Because it is the Almighty’s Will that Seasons change therefore I welcome thee Oh Christmas with thy bitter cold, thy piercing winds, thy nipping frost and snow – but most of all I welcome thee because a Triune[12] God, then bids me think upon a Saviours Birth and meditate upon the mystery of God made Man
Oh Blessed duty when the Will is made to harmonize therewith, and by the Spirits’p14Power become xxxx Sisters, Spirit divine, I would not supplicate thy power and might which like a mighty wind thou pourest over some few souls enabling them to do high deeds of mighty valour in God’s service, thou hast not formed me for it – but I would supplicate thy still small voice, thy voice of softest love, that in this Holy Season, I may ponder o’er the lives of God’s sweet Saints – the Saint of Saints St. Joseph and the wonder p15e'en in Heaven of all God’s Creatures. Mary – May I in spirit journey with them to the little village Bethlehem and there awaits the coming of the Infant God –
May I with lowly awe, and reverence profound prostrate myself before the rude and rough made crib and worship Jesus – May I clearly understand the mystery of love and meekness, which made him leave his Father’s starry throne become incarnate, and grapple with the powers of sin & hellp16but us my Soul, that cannot be – no power of Men or Angels Cherubim or Seraphim can fully grasp that mystery –
Some faint and feeble glimmerings thou mayest gain -
Glimmerings of love and Wisdom sufficient for thy present need - to make thee pray that every selfsufficient thought lack[13] thought of pride, impatience Anger and impurity, may henceforth die in thee
Oh utter then my Soul that heartfelt prayers – p17and calmly then await thy entrance into Heaven, to have thy thoughts, thy mind, thy powers enlarged, to sound the depths more fully of the Wisdom, power, and love of God –