Kindness Quote by John Hawley

The sentence reads like a door opened on a chain, then gently but unmistakably latched. Hawley performs generosity in the conditional: "I wish I had it in my power to furnish you with accommodation". The wish is the point. It signals goodwill while quietly announcing a limit - money, space, influence, or social obligation - without having to name the constraint. That tact matters in a world where direct refusals can harden into feuds or reputational damage.

The phrasing is steeped in the etiquette of letter-writing as social technology. "I should feel proud to do it" flatters the recipient, implying their request is worthy, even prestigious, while still refusing to fulfill it. Pride becomes a kind of currency: Hawley can pay in esteem what he cannot pay in lodging, patronage, or practical assistance. Then he pivots to access instead of aid: he will be "happy to hear from you at anytime when you[r] engagements will allow you an hour". Translation: I can't give you what you asked for, but I can offer a meeting, on your schedule, framed as deference. It's an elegant way to keep the relationship alive without committing resources.

That final sweep - "best wishes for yourself, family and circuit" - hints at the recipient's itinerant professional life, likely legal, clerical, or political. "Circuit" evokes travel, obligation, and public duty. Hawley is not just being polite; he's signaling he understands the recipient's world, and he wants to remain inside it, even from a position of limited power.