1From John Adams to John T. Watson, 23 July 1818 (Adams Papers)
I thank you, for you for your favour of the 12th. You advise me to write my own Life upon a very extensive plan. But you must give me a lease of another life of 82 Years, before I can undertake it. When I read the Lives of Doctor Benjamin Franklin and Governor Patrick Henry, my own appears, upon retrospection, a dull, dreary unfruitful Waste. I Should be ashamed to read it, though Written by a...
2To John Adams from John T. Watson, 12 August 1818 (Adams Papers)
I felt myself too much gratified with the receipt of your letter, not to have been Very thankful for the polite manner of your reply. I had not thought to have trespassed more upon your attention, although I felt a wish to express a few sentiments in reply return: but reflecting now , that a few moments may be sufficient for you to run over these lines, & there being no occasion in them for...