you have not told me that the Lady in the undress who was presented at your Drawing Room had been connected with a Frenchman—but I suspect She had. I know not where else she could have got her impudence. a Shameless woman is a horrid sight. The frightful wigs the Ladies Wear here & cover up their own beautiful ringlets is an evidence of a great want of tast, but we are not yet so lost to every thing that is decent as to conceal Nothing which Nature has form’d

Mr Whitney is quite in spirits upon having his petition granted about a House. mr clark is not quite Suited yet with one, but will leave it as soon as he can. Mr Whitney has given us an exellent Sermon & a prayer which would have charmd you to have heard to day. Tis our Fast. Mr waterman from Hingham preach’d this afternoon. he is not by any means equal to his Brother.1 it was a Strange wandering Sermon: some very good things, to. he aim’d often to be smart—& some times slighly, observing how Many great characters the country had lost the last year.— he Said, “Though these Lights are eclipsed by the Shadow’s of Death, yet blessed be God the Sun of Columbia Still Shines. we have reason to rejoice in his light & humbly to pray, that at the present crisis of human affairs he may not be eclipsed by the intervention of that political opaque Body which revolves about him in very eccentric elipses” what the People understood of this sentence I do not know: but it made many Smile

Mr cranch receiv’d a Letter to day from your son Thomas in which he Says you were more unwell than have you been.2 dont be sick my Sister. the roads are very good now you will try to get home as fastt as you can, but I know it will be difficult for you to leave Philadelphia long before your Family do as you do not expect to return to it again as a residence. at present you have double cares. your works here & providing for your Families for the coming year have caus’d you perplexities which I dare say has driven Sleep from your eyes. but do not be anxious Your Rooms will be raised next week & the work will go on fast your Garden will also be attended too immideally. 192 Doctor Tufts is here three or four times a week & every thing is in Motion the weather has been So stormy & cold that it would have been in vain to have attemptd any thing Sooner— Mr Porter Stays upon the place. She wants help. Mrs Tufts likes Zuba So Well that I believe She will try to perswaid mrs Porter to get other help for herself. I gave the Letter to the Doctor in which you say you presume She will return to you this spring as She had ingag’d to do.3 it seems to disconcert them a little, but the Doctor told Me that if She had made that ingagment & was willing to abide by it She must return. I knew nothing about it more than what you have written. I have talk’d with Mrs Black about Mrs Briggs for a cook. she Says she will do very well if She has a Mind to, & She think she would if nothing More was requir’d of her. the Doctor thinks she will not answer your purpose: I must make further inquiries about her Mrs Black thinks She is with Mr Alleyne she came to her to inquire about her4

I will inquire for others. I will get a muff for Mrs Porter when I go to Boston I have not been there for a long time, & I shall see to geting the Flax

I had a Letter the other day from West Point mr Cranch has been dangerously Sick with a Slow Nervous Fever ever since She receiv’d your Letter, & they all appear to be in low spirits5 She is worn out with watching & fatigue

mr & mrs Greenleaf & all your Neighbours send their respects & Love Mr G is recoverd pretty well his lame knee. Doctor Phipps is geting better we take him to ride when the weather will do. I went to see him a Teusday he is nothing but Skin & Bone Surrounded with little crying children, & his wife in the next Room lockd in, making a distres’d Noise which tho’ he cannot hear yet he knows.6 he want somebody to take proper care of him & see that he has proper food. I sent him Dinner yesterday & he was as much pleas’d as if he was a child. he has been too sick to read, & has no object to afford him comfort: he has only that woman for his housekeeper who liv’d at Capn Peter Brackets. She drinks you know to excess— when she can get enough to make a fool of herself miss Lazel thanks you for your good opinion of her & hopes to behave so as always to deserve it. She does improve & has a very good heart & acts from Principle. If they will let her stay long enough She will make the most of a Literary character of any of the Family. She is fond of her Book but People judge Strangly when they think a Miss of 15 fifteen who knew nothing before can acquire sufficient knoledge prudenc 193 & discretion in a few months to guide them thro’ the critical age Period from Sixteen to twenty one—the most dangerous of their whole Lives, especially if they are very gay I should make Something of this Girl if I could have her long enough. she is unhappy in being the youngest child her elder Sisters think they may command her without feeling the tenderness of a Parent or having ever been quallified for their Situation, & her mother, not one of them but herself treats with any kind of respect It is much worse than having No Mother7

with Love & respects as due from Mr Cranch & your Nieces to you, & yours permit me to close affectionately yours

I received Your obliging favour dated march 28th upon the 2 of this Month. it gave me great pleasure to learn that you had such fine Roads and agreable weather for Your journey I was daily rejoicing in it; for I was the more attentive to it upon your account. I knew not where you had taken up Your residence, or I should have written to you. I found you from my Sister that you had not past Quincy; I shall forward this Letter under cover to her with a request to send 194 it, forward to situate if you have proceeded as you expected— the weather has assumed the appearence of spring the Earth is putting on a new suit. the trees corresponding with their Parent, are shooting their Branches and spreading their leaves whilst, the lively song of the Birds hail the welcome approach of the renovating Season; reminding Me of my Garden at Quincy & that like Eden of old it calls for culture, the pruning knife & the labourer; I feel loth to leave the President who will be detaind I fear by Congress to a later day than I dare trust myself here—

Yesterday arrived capt Barry & brought dispatches from our Envoys to the 10th of Feb’ry at Burgos in Spain they had upon their arrival sent a courier to Paris to inform the Minister of their arrival. they proceeded on their Journey as far as Bourgos when the Courier met them with pasports from Talleyrand and a very civil Letter, assureing them that there would be no difficulty on account of their Letters of Credence, that they had been impatiently look’d for, and would be received with Zeal, is the expression, that the Letters forwarded by them for Mr Murry would be sent to him immediatly with a passport. the statement given of mr Murrys being already arrived in Paris, is not true2 I think it probable that our Envoys, if they have a speedy journey May have the supreem honour to be the first to enter into negotiation with King Buonaparty; I should be as loth to place implicit confidence in his assureances as those of his Predecessors—and a powerfull Navey will be our best Security for the faithfull performance of any treaty which may be formed, as well as to command respect from the Mistress of the Ocean— You have seen I trust in the publick papers that the Ghost of Robbins was laid by a vote of a large Majority of the House of Representives, after being properly exorcised by Mr Bayard & Marshal— he has been a costly Deamon to the united states, Supported by fellow Deamons—

Duane is obliged to hide himself and Sculk inorder to escape the Justice which awaits him from a Warrant issued by the committe of Priviledges in senate, for a false & scandelous libel publishd in his paper against that honorable Body— he dare not meet the justice of the country which affords him an assylum— Cooper of Norththumberland & Dallis were his counsel— Milton has this expression

Mrs smith left me soon after You went away, but not soon enough to escape very bad Roads. she found her habitation more comfortable 195 196 than she expected, as her happiness She says was never measured by the size of the house, or the Elegance of the stile in which She lived She can accommodate herself to her situation; and feel thankfull for the blessings she is in the possession of—

“To rise with Dignity & fall with ease” is true Philosophy—4 the consideration that,

Should familirize & reconcile the mind tho to those frequent changes & and vissisitudes of Life which “Man is Heir too.[”]6 I have no contempt of Riches—they are tallents which are given to the possessor to be used for the benifit of individuals, & upon which allso the community have claims, and when so improved, become blessings—but they are generally attended with so many allurements to Luxery and Dissipation, that food and rament, with a competence to the situation in which we are placed in Life, is more desirable than great Wealth, in which there must be great trouble—

I quit Moralizing to inform you that mrs stael soon recoverd from the indisposition under which she labourd when you left her— I inclose to you the ode which was publishd with the address of an old Man— if it has not any influence upon the Manners of one whom who I fear is callous both in mind and person, I hope it will deter others from a Servile imitation—7

the President joins me in Regard to the judge and Yourself— with Sentiments of sincere Regard I am your / truly affectionate Friend