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Here am I seated at my desk. With pen and all the writing implements at
hand; and shall I not employ them? Yes in good sooth I will, and they
shall, for the present, be devoted to the pious use of shewing my friend
that his absence does not annihilate him; his local absence for he is
always intellectually present, and as he stands almost single in the
Writers catalogue of Friends, my soul principally converses with his
kindred spirit.—Lend me your wings I pray you, tend me your wings

What wantest thou with my wings, thou most audacious and
importunate of all my worshippers! I cannot spare them. But fond
Youth thou knowest not what thou askest. My pinions (. whose hues, as
thy poet says of my celestial Friend Raphael, are dipped in heaven)
are of finer texture than thou unwisely imaginest. They are fitted only
to accelerate the speed of angels, and to enable the airy messenger who,
at the divine command, wanders through eternity, to perform more quickly
the behests of God. They would be insufficient to support thy weight or
bear thee from the spot whereon thou standst. Thou shalt not have them.

I beseach thee kind propitious amiable gracious bountiful
divinity, I beseach thee, denye not the gift which I solict. Thy present
shall be momentaniously returned. Denye me not I most eloquently intreat
thee.

And what thinkest thou shall I do in the mean time? How shall
I employ myself without my plumes?

Thou shalt be inactive but for a moment.

A moment thou child of man is a moment to thee, but an age to
me. A spirrit can traverse half the universe within a moment. Can hover
over the throne of Chaos, mingle with the infernal audience that throngs
the hall of Pandemonium, and join the choral band that nightly
circles the sacred Mount, that lifts its head in the midst of heaven
and supports, with atlantian shoulders, the weight of incumbent deity
all in the compass of a moment. Can build and demolish worlds, can perform
all that thy imagination can conceive, should she enjoy the leisure of
a thousand years to form and execute her purposes, before the moment
which thou mentionest could arrive at its period

Well, my friend, I thought that my better angel, who used so freque
ly to answer me with propitious intimation: my impetuous vows, and to bear


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me sometimes, though rarely, "beyond the visible diurnal sphere." could
denye me nothing. But you see she deserts me "at my utmost need"
and refuses me the loan of his pinions for a single moment, by whose
assistance I meant to have paid a visit "to the heaven of invention"
and to have thrown a little incence on the alter of the presiding
deity, whoever may, at this time have possessed the sovereignty of
that enchanted region, that paradise of poets, that blest asylum
of anxious and bewildered thought, in which your friend, has
always, by means of his spiritual auxiliaries, found a refuge
from "Adversities could cold wind and beating hail"

The poetical fervor is upon me. The majician whose friendship &
assistance I have bought at an enormous price, is now standing at a the
threshold of his cell, and waving his potent wand at my command
Do you not see him? He is present to my sight. A grave and venerable
personage he is. I wish I could introduce you to his acquaintance. You
have seen, In in the tapestry of description, the metropolis of the fairy
Queen, Panthea and the bridge of brass. He would shew it to you, delinea-
=ted by a bolder, life-diffusing, truth-mocking pencil, with brighter
hues, on more commodious canvass—But unless I break his wand
or make it motionless, and drive the inchanter into his gloomy dwelling
I shall be sedused to a greater distance from the tract of common sence
than I am at present desirous of being.

What more shall I say to thee on this occasion. Wilt thou honour
me with thy company this afternoon. If no more agreable occupation, and
no previous ingagement, shall unluckily withold thee. Shall I share my
Nectar and Manna- my bread and coffee with thee? If thou wilt
walk, I will, with thy permission, accompany thee, and we will return
together and will drink the potion and eat the morsal which shall
be provided for us, and thou shalt be the love’d assocate of my
solitude, untill "the bell strike ten and thou take note of time"
I shall infallibly expect thee till as soon as thou hast furnished nature
with materials to work upon in her elaboratory, and give employment
to her [gap] active ministers digestion and concoction. As soon as thou
hast partaken of thy midday banquet, with the queen of beauty and

― [page break] ― the god of loquacious [gap] soon as thou hast dined with John &
Dorothy. Thou wilt find me in my chamber, law-reading and
checquer-playing, weigh[gap]ighty conquerer! Thou wishest to
triumph over thy vanquished and prostrate foe, fill thy pocket
with motly wariors, and I will furnish the field of battle, where thou
mayest, till thou art satiated with victory, "sweep whole armies in
the fight of Draughts—"

Waste Hast ye f[gap] [gap] of day
In [gap] born

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William Wood Wilkins Esq.
Walnut Street—

To Wilkins / with date / 9

She soon sets at naught, and the stars