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ʻ It is with inexpreſſible pleaſure and ſatisfaction I acquaint you, that my enquiries after the friends and relations of that gentleman, have not been fruitleſs, but have met with the deſired ſucceſs. The minute account he entertains you with, of his family and kindred, is juſt : For by enquiring I have found his father’s name to be the ſame which you mention, who has been dead many years. His mother’s name is as you have wrote it, who is ſtill alive ; and whom I had the pleaſure of ſeeing. But the bowels of maternal affection, in truth do I declare it, ſeem ready to burſt ; and break forth in tears of joy, like Jacob, when he heard that his beloved ſon Joſeph was yet alive. The joy is kindled, on the occaſion, in expectation of ſeeing once more the fruit of her loins, before ſhe with her grey hairs goes to the grave, throws her into extacies, reſembling Jacob’s : And in raptures ſhe breaks forth and ſays, ʻIt is enough ! My ſon is yet alive ! I hope, by God's bleſſing, to ſee him before I die !’ His uncle is called by the ſame name mentioned in your favor. In ſhort, every circumſtance is agreeable to the deſcription given me in your letter.
ʻ A great perſonage of his family, whoſe name is Oforee, and now enjoys his father’s eſtate, deſires, with great importunity, that I would earneſtly petition you that he may be returned to them, as ſoon as may be ; and promiſes that nothing ſhall be wanting to make him, and all about him, comfortable and happy, among his own kindred. And the whole family unanimouſly join in requeſting me to render you all the grateful acknowledgements and thanks they are able to return, for your paternal care and affection exerciſed towards him ; and beg me to tell you, that as it is not in their power to requite you for all your trouble, they therefore hope that the good God of Heaven will recompence you hereafter, for your labor of love beſtowed on him.’
In a letter of a later date, he writes in the following manner.
ʻ The mother is ſtill looking with impatience for the return of her ſon, once dead and loſt. She, and the principal couſin, who poſſeſſes the eſtate of his father,
