Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1840-04-17

veral months. l cannot but be gratefully
affected by the benevolent interest which
you manifested in my pursuits, both in
our interview in Worcester, and in the
letter for which am indebted to your
courtesy and kind consideration. THANK
you most cordially for those expressions
of good will. They are peculiarly graft
fying,-comngas they do from one whose
personal acquaintance have not long had
the means and pleasure of enjoying a
fact which proves, l fear, that l have
been thrust before the world very imma-
turely. An accidental allusion to my his
tory and pursuits, which l made unthink-
ingly in letter to friend, was, to my
unspeakable surprise, brought before the
public as a rather ostcntations dcbm on
my part to the world: and | find myself
involved in species of notoriety not at
all in consonance with my feelings.
Those who have been acquainted with my
character from my youth up will give me
credit for sincerity, when say, that It
never entered my heart to blazon forth any
acquisition of my. own. / had, until the
unfortunate dcnOuemcm which | have
mentioned, pursued the even tenor of my
way unnoticcd, even among my brethren
and kindred. None of them ever thought
that | had any particular genius, as 1t is
called L never thought SO myself. All
that | have accomplished, or expect or
hope to accomplish, has been and will be
by that plodding, patient, persevcring
process Of accrction which builds the ant
heap,-particle by particle, thought by
thought, fact by fact. And if ever was
actuated by ambition, its highest and
tarthest aspiration reached no farther than
the hope to set before the young men of
my country an example in employing
those invaluable fragments of time called
'odd Moments And, sir, | should cs-
TEEN it an honor of costicr acatcr than the
tiara cncircling monarch's brow, if my
future activity and attainments should en-
courage American WOrkin-men to be
proud and jealous of the credentials which
God has given them to every emincncc
and immunity in the empire of mind.
These are the views and sentiments with
which l have sat down, night by night for
years, with blistered hands and brighten
ing hope, to studies which I hoped might
be scrviccable to that class of community
to which am proud to belong. This is
my ambition. This is the goal of my
aspirations. But, not only the prt@e, but
the whole course lies before me, perhaps
beyond my reach. Il count myself not
yet to have attained to any thing worthy
ofpublic notice or private mention: what
| may do is for Providence to determine.
AS you expressed desire in your letter
for some account ofmy past and present
pursuits, shall hope to crafty you on
this point, and also rectiiy mlsappre-
hension which you with many others may
have entertained of my requirements.
With regard to my attention to the Ian
guagcs, ia study of which | am not so
fond as ofmathematics,) | have tried, by
kind Of pratical and philosophical pro-
cess, to contract such IA familiar acquain-
lance with the head of a family of Ian
guages as to introduce me to the other
members Of the same family. Thus,
studying the Hebrew very critically, |
became readily acquainted with its cog
nate languages, among the principal of
which are the Syriac, Chaldaic, Arabic,
Samaritan, Ethiopic, &c. The Ian
guages Of Europe occupied my attention
Immediately after | had finished my clas-
sizes; and | studied French, Spanish,
Italian, and German, under native teach
ers. Afterwards, | pursued the Portu-
guese, Flemish, Danish, Swedish, Nor
wegian, lcelandic, Welsh, Gaelic, Celtic.
then venturcd on further east into the
Russian empire; and the Sclavonic opon-
ed to me about a dozen of the languages
spoken in that vast domain, between
which the affinity is as marked as that be-
tween the Spanish and Portuguese. Be-
side these, l have attended to many diff
ferent European dialects still invoguc. |
am now trying to push on eastward as fast
as my means will permit, hoping to dis
cover still farther analogics among the
oriental languages which will assist my
progress. must now close this hasty,
though long letter, with the assurances of
my most sincere respect and esteem:
ELIHU BURRIrT.
To TIL: Nelson, nj. ID.
| How thcy talk about the uretty GIRLS