To James Madison from James Ogilvie, August 1816
From James Ogilvie
Philadelphia August 1816.
I take the liberty, my dear Sir, to transmit for your perusal a sort of synopsis of a book which will shortly make its appearance.1
He must have stouter nerves than mine, who in an age like this, can provoke the attention & await the decision of the august & penetrating awarders of literary justice, without apprehension & awe.
But I have arrived somewhat abruptly & unpreparedly, at a stage in the prosecution of my enterprise, when farther success becomes hopeless, or worthless without the acquisition of some share of reputation as a philosophical enquirer & author. Recede I will not, stand still I cannot; I therefore must go on: And on I will go: Cheer’d by the retrospect of past success & “attended by the strong-siding champion Conscience”—& gladly welcome the smile of “white handed hope—That hovering angel girt with golden wings,”2 with a cordial wish that the bright & serene sunset of your political career, may be followed by a long twilight of philosophical leizure & domestic felicity & a night of the sweetest sleep I am with profound respect, & the most heart-felt esteem one of the million of your friends
James Ogilvie3
RC and enclosure (DLC). RC cover docketed by JM. For enclosure, see n. 1.
1. The enclosure was an undated two-page prospectus for Ogilvie’s Essays, &c. The author’s Philosophical Essays; To Which Are Subjoined, Copious Notes, Critical and Explanatory, and a Supplementary Narrative […] was published in Philadelphia in 1816 ( 38500).
2. Ogilvie quoted from Milton, Comus, lines 211–14.