To James Madison from Joseph Hutton, 2 October 1818
From Joseph Hutton
Petersburg Va. October 2nd. 1818
Sir,
Confiding in your willingness to promote the diffusion of literary information through the Union, over whose interests you so long presided with honour to your self and benefit to your constituents, I respectfully solicit your name to the enclosed prospectus,1 together with any other, from the circle of your retirement, you may, without inconvenience, be enabled to obtain. Pardon, Sir, the liberty I have taken, and believe me With respect and Esteem Your Fellow Citizen
Jos: Hutton2
RC (DLC). Docketed by JM.
1. Enclosure not found.
2. Joseph Hutton (1787–1828) was a poet and sometime actor who wrote a number of plays, among them The School for Prodigals (Philadelphia, 1809; 17797), The Orphan of Prague (New York, 1810; 20421), and Fashionable Follies (Philadelphia, 1815; 34983), which were performed in New York and Philadelphia. He also wrote patriotic songs and poems, such as The Field of Orleans (Philadelphia, 1816; 37901). From 1820 to 1821, Hutton was an actor in Caldwell’s American Company in New Orleans (Weldon B. Durham, ed., American Theatre Companies, 1749–1887 [New York, 1986], 29, 34, 35).