Southern States of America

To Lady Olivia Sparrow, 13 December [1815]

How have I run on. I never write long letters but to you. Indeed I seldom write at all to my real and beloved friends. My whole time almost goes to strangers. I think I have had no less than eight letters lately from where a good spirit of religion seems to prevail while and the Southern Provinces are as profligate and irreligious as Paris itself.