Adams Papers Digital Edition

Papers of John Adams, volume 20

From John Brown

From Henry Marchant
139 Edward Bancroft to John Adams, 29 August 1789 Bancroft, Edward Adams, John
From Edward Bancroft
(Francis Street Bedford Square) London August 29th. 1789. Sir

As Dr. Jeffries is about to return to America, I have desired him to take charge of a Letter from, & of two Volumes lately Published by, Major Jardine of the British Artillery, an acquaintance of mine to whom I lent your three Volumes on the Science of Government, with which he has been greatly pleased.1

Dr. Jeffries has at last determined to fix his residence in the United States a determination which gives me great pleasure, as I am persuaded it will not only prove advantageous to himself but to those of our Countrymen who may hereafter need his professional Assistance. To you who know his merits my testimony in their favour would be superfluous: But perhaps it may not be altogether useless for you to be informed of the Opinions of more competent Judges, such as Dr. Warren2 and others who are at the head of the medical Profession in this Country, and who after a multitude of opportunities of properly estimating his talents & acquirments in the healing arts, uniformly speak of them in Terms of the highest Commendation. and I am confident, those in America who may either call for his aid or recommend it to others, will never have occasion to regret their doing so.

To Dr. Jeffries I must refer you for such information as you may desire respecting men & things here— I cannot however conclude without offering you my cordial Congratulations upon that Choice of the United States by which you have been lately placed in the most important & distinguished Situations, which I have no doubt of your continueing to fill to your own honor & their greatest benefit.

I beg my most respectful Compliments to your Lady & to Mrs. & Col. Smith, and that you will beleive me to be with the greatest Sincerity & respect / Sir / Your most faithful / & most Devoted Humble Servant

Edwd. Bancroft.

RC (Adams Papers); internal address: “His Excellency John Adams Esq.”; endorsed: “Dr. Ed. Bancroft / Aug. 29. 1789.”

 1.

Loyalist John Jeffries, who was the Adamses’ physician in London, returned to Boston in November with his second wife, Hannah Hunt Jeffries, and reopened his practice five months later. Bancroft sent a copy of Alexander Jardine’s Letters from Barbary, France, Spain, Portugal, &c., London, 1788, which is in JA’s library at MB. Jardine (d. 1799), a former British Army officer and diplomatic agent, shared cultural observations 140 from his 1771 mission to Morocco and subsequent travels in Europe ( Sibley’s Harvard Graduates , 15:425–426; Catalogue of JA’s Library ; DNB ).

 2.

Dr. John Warren (1753–1815), Harvard 1771, of Cambridge, was a surgeon and a founder of the Massachusetts Medical Society (vol. 3:357; Sibley’s Harvard Graduates , 17:655–669).