I do not write asking you to reply; for I do not suppose you have anything to say which you would not have suggested when I was with you. Indeed, I believe I write, as much as for anything, because I want to communicate with you about something, and this is uppermost in my mind. Present my affectionate regards to Mrs. Channing and the children, and to Miss Gibbs. Yours most affectionately, O. DEWEY. To Rev. Henry Ware. NEW BEDFORD, March 29, 1829. MY DEAR FRIEND,--I cannot let you go off without my blessing. I did not know of your purpose till last evening, or I should not have left myself to write to you in the haste of a few minutes snatched on Sunday evening, to say nothing of the aching nerves' and the misled hand that usually come along with it. By the by, I have a good mind to desire you to propose a year's exchange [for me] to somebody in England. If you meet with a man who is neither too good nor too bad, suppose you suggest it to him,--not as from me, however. I should think that a man, in going to England, would feel the evil of belonging to a sect, unless that sect [141] embraced all the good and wise and gifted,--which can be said of no sect. The sectarianism of sects, however, is the bad thing. These are necessary; that is not necessary, but to human weakness. But fie upon discoursing to a man who is just stepping on shipboard! May it bear you safely! May it tread the mountain wave "as a steed that knows its rider," and is conscious of what it bears from us! My heart will go with you in a double sense; for I want to see England,--I want to see Italy, and the Alps, and the south of France. I don't know whether you intend to do all this; and I am very certain not to do any of it. I know that yours will not be a travelled heart, any more than Goldsmith's. Let me lay in my claim for as many of its kind thoughts as belong to me. But yet more, let me assure you, as the exigency demands, that for every one you have thus to render, I have five to give in return. I believe you will not be sorry, at this time, that my lines and words are few and far between; for your leisure cannot serve to read many. Mrs. D. desires her best wishes to you. We do not know whether Mrs. Ware goes with you, but hope she does. I took my pen feeling as if I had not a word to say, but--God bless you! and that I say with all my heart. Write me from abroad if you can, but make no exertion to do so. Yours as ever, O. DEWEY. To the Same. NEW BEDFORD, Sep. 14, 1830,