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Browsing: Adams Family Correspondence, Volume 1
Docno: ADMS-04-01-02-0005
Recipient: Smith, Isaac Jr.
Date: 1763-03-16
Abigail Smith to Isaac Smith Jr.
[dateline] Weymouth March 16 1763
[salute] Dear Cousin1
Tis no small pleasure to me, to hear of the great proficioncy you have made in the
French tongue, A Tongue Sweet, and harmonious, a Tongue, useful to Merchants, to Statesmen;
to Divines, and especially to Lawyers and Travellers; who by the help of it, may traverse
the whole Globe; for in this respect, the French language is pretty much now, what
I have heard the Latin formerly was, a universal tongue.
By the favor of my Father I have had the pleasure of seeing your Copy of Mrs. Wheelwrights
Letter, to her Nephew, and having some small acquaintance with the French tongue,
have attempted a translation; of it, which I here send, for your perusal and correction.2
{ 4 } I am sensible that I am but ill qualified for such an undertaking, it being a maxim
with me that no one can translate an author well, who cannot write like the original,
and I find by Experience that tis more difficult to translate well, than to write
well.
You will see that I have endeavourd to translate the letter as literally as I could,
without treading on the heels of my Lady abbess, Esteeming literal translations to
be the best as well as truest. Should be glad if you would favor me with your translation,
for you, being taught the French language by one of the greatest masters, I make no
doubt but that your performance shines in all the beauty and perfection of Language.
[salute] That you may daily grow in virtue and useful Learning, and be a bright Orniment in Church or State is the sincere wish of Dear Cousin Your affectionat Friend,
[signed] Nabby Smith
N B. How the Lady abbess came to subscribe herself Serviteur, which you know is of
the masculine Gender I cannot devise unless like all other Ladies in a convent, she
chose to make use of the Masculine Gender, rather than the Feminine.
Excuse the wri[ting] for tis late at night.
2. “Mrs. Wheelwright” is Esther Wheelwright (1696–1780), who had been captured by Indians in Wells, Maine, in 1703 and taken to Canada, where
she became a nun and eventually, in 1760, Mother Superior of the Ursuline Convent
in Quebec. She kept in periodic touch with her family in New England, and very likely
her “Letter, to her Nephew,” here discussed, was written to her sister's son, Joshua
Moody, who visited Quebec in 1761 and brought back a portrait of his aunt. See Emma
Lewis Coleman, New England Captives Carried to Canada ... during the French and Indian Wars, Portland, Maine, 1925, 1:425–435, with portrait of Esther Wheelwright reproduced
facing p. 428. Another nephew, Nathaniel Wheelwright, recorded his visits to the Convent
during 1754 in a diary recently edited by Edward P. Hamilton and published in Fort
Ticonderoga Museum, Bull., 10:259–296 (Feb. 1960); see especially p. 275, 291–292.
Cite web page as: Founding Families: Digital Editions of the Papers of the Winthrops and the Adamses, ed.C. James Taylor. Boston: Massachusetts Historical Society, 2017.
http://www.masshist.org/apde2/
http://www.masshist.org/apde2/