Adams Family Correspondence, volume 4
1781-02-01
I have waited on Mr. Luzac with the Crisis, who is much obliged to You for it, and will either translate it into Dutch or French, as shall be most agreable to You, and as soon as possible. You will be so good as to acquaint me, which of the two Languages is your Choice.1
I waited a few days agone on the Rector Magnificus with Charley, and was informed by him, that his Matriculation was consented to by the Curators.2
The Letter You was so kind to forward me, was from America, dated the 1st. and 16th. of September. I am at a loss how it came, as I hear of no Arrival.
It seems rather difficult to determine upon the various News from the Southward. The
American Papers and Accounts differ exceedingly from the English. One knows not what to make
of such Contradictions. If it
The young Gentlemen are well and desire their Duty to You.
In a letter from Brussels, 28 Jan. (Adams Papers), William Lee wrote JA: “I
send you a Crisis which perhaps you may think worth being translated and publish'd in
Holland.” This was quite possibly Thomas Paine's The Crisis
Extraordinary, published in Philadelphia in Oct. 1780 (Evans 16918), but no Dutch or French translation published in the
Netherlands has been found.
During a visit to his sons in Leyden early in January, JA recorded that
JQA was approved for matriculation (he and John Thaxter were formally admitted
on 10 Jan.), but that “Charles was found to be too young, none under twelve Years of Age
being admitted” (
Diary and
Autobiography
, 2:452). In his letter
74to JA of 23 Jan. (above), Thaxter reported that he would wait again upon the
Rector to obtain special consent, and on 11
Feb. he wrote JA (letter below) that this had been done and
CA had matriculated on 29 January.