I recieved your kind favor of the 31st on Friday Evening with the Bill enclosed for which I return you many thanks

I am rejoiced to hear that your Garden affords you so much amusement and hope to find it in high order against next summer I think if you intend to make any alterations in the House as there is nobody at present residing there it would be better to have them done this Summer We talked of adding a couple of Chambers and if it is possible without too great expense I should very much desire to have some change made in the staircase which makes the entrance to the House intolerable as it stands at present should this be attended with any difficulty I entreat you to excuse the request as it is only made from an idea that it would contribute both to health &. comfort—

Is Mrs. Gore much alter’d? I think Mrs. Derby should come here for the heat is so excessive that we are in a great measure obliged to adopt her mode of dress though with as much decency as we can very light cloathing will admit pray do not forget to remember me to my Boston friends when you see them, more particularly to Mrs. Smith—

Mrs. Merry surprized us last night by a visit quite en famille with Mr Moore a very agreeable man they staid a couple of hours he entertained us with some delightful airs on the Piano which he accompanied with his voice he sings entirely in the Italian stile &. with exquisite taste Mr. M. favor’d us with a trio of his own composing which is really one of the finest pieces of Music I ever heard the words were likewise written by himself & begin “Lady fair where art thou roaming” this is the gentleman who translated Anacreon he looks very young to be so celebreated Mr. M. quits this place tomorrow it is probable he will visit Boston I have a great inclination to give him a letter to you that you may become acquainted with him—1 The day the Chargé left the City Mrs. M. paid a visit to Mrs. T. Peter and they are likely to become very intimate.—2 Chargés namesake the Dr. has very suddenly changed his Politics and is now become a furious federalist to the astonishment of all the world—3

Our little John has been extremely unwell & is wonderfully reduced he is now cutting two of his high teeth which have made him suffer very much for the last three weeks &. are not yet through I have some thoughts of taking him to Bladensburg which is about eight miles from this place for a day or two as I think a change of air might be of great service to him he is much better the last three days & I make no doubt will be perfectly well when the teeth are through therefore do not be uneasy if he had been very seriously sick I should have written you before—4 George is very well Mrs. Merry says he is formed for a Politician he understands the art of twisting a subject better than any child she ever saw— I am sorry to say he has lost almost all his French—

Adi[eu my] best loved friend remember me affectionately [to] your fam[ily &] be assured of the unalterable affection of y[our]

The affectionate sentiments which you have had the goodness to express in your letter of May 20. towards my dear departed daughter, have awakened in me sensibilities natural to the occasion, & recalled your kindnesses to her which I shall ever remember with gratitude & friendship. I can assure you with truth they had made an indelible impression on her mind, and that, to the last, on our meetings after long separations, whether I had heard lately of you, and how 393 you did, were among the earliest of her enquiries. in giving you this assurance I perform a sacred duty for her, & at the same time am thankful for the occasion furnished me of expressing my regret that circumstances should have arisen which have seemed to draw a line of separation between us. the friendship with which you honoured me has ever been valued, and fully reciprocated; & altho’ events have been passing which might be trying to some minds, I never believed yours to be of that kind, nor felt that my own was. neither my estimate of your character, nor the esteem founded in that, have ever been lessened for a single moment, although doubts whether it would be acceptable may have forbidden manifestations of it.

Mr. Adams’s friendship & mine began at an earlier date. it accompanied us thro’ long & important scenes. the different conclusions we had drawn from our political reading & reflections were not permitted to lessen mutual esteem, each party being conscious they were the result of an honest conviction in the other. like differences of opinion existing among our fellow citizens attached them to the one or the other of us, and produced a rivalship in their minds which did not exist in ours. we never stood in one another’s way: for if either had been withdrawn at any time, his favorers would not have gone over to the other, but would have sought for some one of homogeneous opinions. this consideration was sufficient to keep down all jealousy between us, & to guard our friendship from any disturbance by sentiments of rivalship: and I can say with truth that one act of mr̃ Adams’s life, excepted and one only, ever gave me a moment’s personal displeasure. I did consider his last appointments to office as personally unkind. they were from among my most ardent political enemies, from whom no faithful cooperation could ever be expected, and laid me under the embarrasment of acting thro’ men whose views were to defeat mine; or to encounter the odium of putting others in their places. it seemed but common justice to leave a successor free to act by instruments of his own choice. if my respect for him did not permit me to ascribe the whole blame to the influence of others, it left something for friendship to forgive, and after brooding over it for some little time, and not always resisting the expression of it, I forgave it cordially, and returned to the same state of esteem & respect for him which had so long subsisted. having come into life a little later than mr̃ Adams, his career has preceded mine, as mine is followed by some other, and it will probably be closed at the same distance after him which time originally 394 placed between us. I maintain for him, & shall carry into private life an uniform & high measure of respect and good will, and for yourself a sincere attachment.

I have thus, my dear Madam, opened myself to you without reserve, which I have long wished an opportunity of doing; and, without knowing how it will be recieved, I feel relief from being unbosomed. and I have now only to entreat your forgiveness for this transition from a subject of domestic affliction to one which seems of a different aspect. but tho connected with political events, it has never been viewed by me most strongly in it’s unfortunate bearings on my private friendships. the injury these have sustained have been a heavy price for what has never given me equal pleasure. that you may both be favored with health, tranquility and long life, is the prayer of one who tenders you the assurances of his highest consideration and esteem.