Letters of James Savage to his family ...

Preface

The letters, privately printed, in this little volume, are thought to be of sufficient interest to the family and friends of Mr. Savage, to merit their preservation.

It may seem inconsistent that the first letter should be one addressed to a stranger; but as its date, two years after his graduation from college, marks an unusual experience for a young man, twenty-two years of age, I venture to insert it.

In 1805, Mr. Savage's cousin, the late Frederic Tudor, engaged him to accompany his elder brother, William Tudor, to visit the principal islands of the West Indies, for the purpose of establishing the ice-trade there.

In the month of November they sailed for Martinique, and soon after arriving there, Mr. Savage was attacked with yellow fever. He was, at the time, visiting Monseiur D'Aubifret, a gentleman who had passed his youth in Boston.

IV

It chanced that the governor of the island, who had come to visit Madame Le Pagerie the mother of the Empress Josephine, was invited, with his physician who accompanied him, to dine at the house of Mr. Savage's friend.

In the course of the dinner the kind host stated that he had a young friend lying seriously ill in the next room. The physician immediately became interested in the case, and it was to his skill that Mr. Savage owed his life.

While a guest of Monseiur D'Aubifret, Mr. Savage received many kind attentions from Madame Le Pagerie.

Emma Rogers.

LETTERS OF JAMES SAVAGE

LETTERS

OF

JAMES SAVAGE.

To Monsieur D'Aubifret, Trois Islets, Island of Martinique.

Boston, Oct. i6, 1806.

To D'Aubifret.

I rejoice, my dear Sir, in this opportunity for writing to you with a probability of the safe arrival of my letter. To your excellent mother and amiable cousin I send by Nicolas some little keepsakes which a lady procured for me, and so I hope they may be proper. I could never give you and them a perfect testimonial of my gratitude, and am willing to hope, that the inhabitants at Trois Islets will not soon forget me. I shall bless the day on which we went down to your house, as often as I think of it, and its remembrance will rise in my mind with every reflection on my past life, which you preserved. Since my letter in June my Uncle Tudor with Madame and Madamoiselle*

have sailed for France, and we yesterday heard of their arrival. How long they will remain is uncertain. Delia is a fine, accomplished, beautiful girl, and it is not impossible, that some one of your countrymen may be conquered by her charms. Wm. Tudor who seems destined to wander over the world, like Ulysses, sailed in August for London. Besides the experience and sagacity, which his predecessor acquired, I hope he will obtain property sufficient to allow him some nest for the remainder of his life. The youngling Harry Tudor is immersed in science at Cambridge; while Fred., le negotiant universal, is plotting against all your West Indies schemes of freezing you all as well as ourselves in the ensuing season. Cuba and Jamaica as well as Martinique and Barbadoes will certainly be cooled. O quel fraicheur aimable! My sweet cousin Emma Gardiner will stay, I fear, thro' the winter down on their estate in the country one hundred and fifty miles from those who most desire to see her. I continue in the lazy study of law, and shall be admitted in a few months to plead in the secondary court. The great number of gentlemen, which is between fifty and sixty, almost discourages me, but I shall not be driven from my native city. The clergy have most learning, the physicians most money, and the lav^yers most honor in our country. Many of your former friends have inquired respecting you and your family. The number of French people in our country is much less, than v^hen you w^ere with us. But a few days ago I found one in the country, a fugitive from the infernal brigandage of St. Domingo, who, tho' he has been in America fourteen years, is most determined to go home and lay his bones in France. I pray you, let me be remembered by your friends D'Audifrede and his lady, Madame Beaupont and others. I kiss the hand of your mother and Madame Faure, and wish to yourself every blessing which you deserve, or which heaven can send.

Jas. Savage.

Boston, 6 Novr. i8i6.

To Mrs. Robert Hallowell Gardiner.

Dear Emma, — Your note did indeed find me at Boston, and not the least remains of my journey fever disturbing my quiet. Indeed I was not so uneasy as you seemed to imagine, when you suggest that I should not inquire for your key. I hope you received it at the proper time, by return of the stage. I have had a great press of business since my return, which has not permitted me to see all your friends. Lincoln spent Thursday evening with us. His child is perfectly recovered, he says; but his wife is not. I shall probably pass Sunday next there. Mr. Richard's two boys were worth bringing from England, indeed. They were very well, but the young lady's love towards me has cooled surprisingly. At Mr. Frothingham's I have not had leisure to call, but left your letter the morning of my arrival. That, wretched me! was not till Wednesday ten o'clock. I had flattered myself with the glorious hope of reaching my own bed on Tuesday; but the stage was condemned by the new arrangement to stop at Newburyport. But I had not to ride in an open wagon, nor get wet through. The evening of Thursday after my return, I was employed to play the important part of bridesman in the wedding visit of my friend Alex. H. Everett, Esquire. My compeer was Francis C. Gray. I can say nothing more about fashionable engagements but that this evening I go to a ball at Colo.

Perkinses, though as the invitations run in the name of the young ladies I conclude it is not to be very crowded.

I saw over the fireplace at Gardiner a plan on a single sheet of paper of the Institution in England (London) for the Savings Banks, officers' names, computations, &c. Though I did not half read, I was much occupied with the subject on my way up, and find it a very desirable project to introduce here. Mr. Vaughan authorized me to desire Mr. Gardiner to send up that paper. If he has mislaid it, perhaps Charles Vaughan, Mr. Merrick or William Vaughan may have one. I desire to have it sent by the first private opportunity, and the blessings of the poor, or of those who are prevented from being poor, shall remain on him and

Jas. Savage.

Mrs. Tudor told me last evening, she would go to New Jersey next week. I always believe people will go, after the event has verified a promise.

Boston, 20 August, 1818.

To Mrs. James Otis Lincoln.

Dear Madam, — To trace the beginning and growth of the intimate friendship between your late husband and myself will afford me so much gratification, that I shall hope for your indulgence in a few words, though to you, who so perfectly witnessed the continuance of it, such relation may be less interesting than to be told how devoted I must be to cherish the remembrance. My boyish acquaintance, before meeting him, had embraced but one person, whose congenial temper would cause our amusements and occupation to flow in the same channel. The long intimacy with that gentleman, the Revd. S. C. Thacher, had been closed by untimely death only a few months since. I have not seen many persons to whom I should feel stronger attractions, on his own account, than Mr. Lincoln; but it was the assiduous kindness of his mother, the most useful and affectionate friend that ever cared for me^ which bound her children to me as brothers. For many years she was indeed my mother, and permitted me to use even that name in addressing her. Her benevolence was comprehensive enough to include many friends, but towards me was always specially shown. Being doubly an orphan, as my own mother died one day after my brother Arthur was born, and a father's protection had been some months before providentially withdrawn from us forever; to her I was perhaps more indebted than most children to their natural parents. This debt has ever been regarded as sacred, and now seems much to have accumulated, as so long unpaid. To your husband, in his younger days, my aid and advice was always given, in its humble measure, and at a riper age his study of a profession was in connexion with me. He has had many occasions of proving his regard; and now that a more urgent opportunity demands it, nothing will be so sweet to me as returning the obligation.

I may not presume, madam, to comprehend fully the extent of your affliction, but it will not be indelicate for me to urge that your duties cannot be forgotten or postponed. Support and comfort are needed by you, but heaven can afford none, beside your own contemplations, equal to the endearments arising from the education of those representatives of your husband. It may be happy that both are felO

males, as a widowed mother should feel less anxiety in bringing them up, than she must unavoidably entertain for the more perilous state of boys. They will imitate you more closely, and to them may be more surely communicated your own softness. This consolation may the God of the widow grant you.

Of business I spoke very little to you at Hingham. But it is now necessary to enlarge. Some person must administer upon the estate of your husband. You are the most favoured by the law, which gives to you or the next of kin that trust as of course. If you undertake it, every assistance in my power may be relied on. Nor should you be deterred by fear that your being unacquainted with business may be an impediment. If however you desire it I would unite with you in receiving the authority from the Judge of Probate, or if it be disagreeable for you to act at all, would undertake the duty alone. You must not however be anxious about making an immediate determination, but may think ten or twelve days upon it, and with Uncle Martin's* advice, form a deliberate resolution. If you conclude to

*Son of Gen. Benjamin Lincoln and brother-in-law of Mary (Otis) Lincoln.