Wellington, September 17th, 1811.
My very dear Armstrong,
I HAVE been regaling myself this afternoon with a perusal of a large
packet of your letters, forwarded to me from time to time. They present
my much esteemed friend under a great variety of feelings and
circumstances: but they uniformly exhibit him as the sincere and devoted
Christian, and as the warm and substantial friend. Oh, how do I pity
that poor soul who has never experienced the exquisite delights of
friendship! Believe me, Armstrong, I would not exchange the feelings
which at present animate my soul for all the wealth in the universe. It
would be bauble when contrasted with the inestimable blessing of a
friend, whose heart, whose sentiments, whose pursuits, are congenial with
your own. God forbid that I should ever see the time in which this
blessing should he withholden from me. How do I admire those words of
Shakspeare:—
“The friends thou hast, _and their adoption tried_,
_Grapple_ them to thy soul with hooks of steel.”
I lament, however, one circumstance in which my sentiments and my conduct
were in this respect diametrically opposite; I mean when I so far gave
way to the feelings of the moment as to write that letter, which seems to
have caused you so much pain: your conciliatory answer, which I have just
been reading, makes me more ashamed of myself than I can express; I hope,
however, that it will prove a salutary warning through the whole of my
subsequent life. You will be surprised, perhaps, at this apology made so
long after the offence: I make it from a conviction that my former letter
did not sufficiently express the feelings which I ought to have
entertained. * * * * *
Believe me,
Your affectionately sincere
G. M.