without his personal
attendance.

Exclusive of my very strong desire to serve Colonel Vesey, I
beg you will believe that I should have had a very particular
gratification in promoting the success of any measure for
which you are pleased to express an interest.

_Brigadier Brock to his brother Irving._

NIAGARA, January 10, 1811.

I cannot sufficiently thank you for your constant attention to
me; you contribute largely to render my present sequestered
abode tolerable, and let me entreat you to continue the
practice you have lately adopted of sending me a letter every
fortnight. In addition to the last daily paper, send me
likewise the _Observer_, or any other weekly depository of
domestic news. You, who have passed all your days in the
bustle of London, can scarcely conceive the uninteresting and
insipid life I am doomed to lead in this retirement. My
situation obliges me to maintain some sort of establishment,
otherwise I should, from inclination, confine my intercourse
to a very limited circle. I have been for some days projecting
a jaunt into the interior of the States, and I may probably
visit New York before I return, but I shall weigh passing
events well, ere I hazard so long a journey. The heavy rains
which have fallen for the last ten days have delayed my
progress, as I did not choose to undertake the journey on
horseback. I by no means admire travelling alone in so
comfortless a manner, in which the gratification would not
repay the inconvenience.

I purpose directing my steps in the first instance to
Ballstown, a medicinal water of great celebrity, about twenty
miles north of Albany. I then expect to be joined by James
Brock, and probably by some others of the 49th. I shall wait
ten days, not only to give him full time to come up, but
likewise to try the efficacy of the waters, as I have an idea
that they will be serviceable to me. I feel at this moment
infinitely better, but am not quite the thing, without knowing
what ails me. A sound jolting and change of air will produce
wonders, and make me look once more upon a beefsteak with
appetite. At present I live very abstemiously, and scarcely
ever touch wine.

I mentioned in a former letter that the new arrangements
deprived me of the comfort of a companion. Expecting to obtain
leave to vi