gratification will be for a time withheld.

'I have, indeed, published my Book[843], of which I beg to know your
father's judgement, and yours; and I have now staid long enough to watch
its progress into the world. It has, you see, no patrons, and, I think,
has yet had no opponents, except the criticks of the coffee-house, whose
outcries are soon dispersed into the air, and are thought on no more:
from this, therefore, I am at liberty, and think of taking the
opportunity of this interval to make an excursion; and why not then into
Lincolnshire? or, to mention a stronger attraction, why not to dear Mr.
Langton? I will give the true reason, which I know you will approve:--I
have a mother more than eighty years old, who has counted the days to
the publication of my book, in hopes of seeing me; and to her, if I can
disengage myself here, I resolve to go.

'As I know, dear Sir, that to delay my visit for a reason like this,
will not deprive me of your esteem, I beg it may not lessen your
kindness. I have very seldom received an offer of friendship which I so
earnestly desire to cultivate and mature. I shall rejoice to hear from
you, till I can see you, and will see you as soon as I can; for when the
duty that calls me to Lichfield is discharged, my inclination will carry
me to Langton. I shall delight to hear the ocean roar, or see the stars
twinkle, in the company of men to whom Nature does not spread her
volumes or utter her voice in vain.

'Do not, dear Sir, make the slowness of this letter a precedent for
delay, or imagine that I approved the incivility that I have committed;
for I have known you enough to love you, and sincerely to wish a further
knowledge; and I assure you, once more, that to live in a house that
contains such a father and such a son, will be accounted a very uncommon