1From Thomas Boylston Adams to William Smith Shaw, 8 August 1823 (Adams Papers)
It is thought adviseable to defer ‘till after Your next Saturday visit, any steps in the business on which you wrote yesterday , the 6th , which was truly the day before . The Mail was brought tardy & I could not gain an interview till the forenoon ride was over— Truly Your’s— MHi : Miscellaneous Papers.
You will oblige me by purchasing two Copies of “Buckingham’s trial,” and your Uncle wishes you to get the Review of Dr Bancroft’s Sermons, published in Some Christian Disciple or Register—Likewise to bring our North American Review, which will be out Tomorrow Truly Your’s MWA : Adams Papers.
3Thomas Boylston Adams to William Smith Shaw, 8 February 1801 (Adams Papers)
I have your letters of 30 th: ult o & 3 d curr t: for which I thank you— The letter, which has so copiously extracted your indignation, not without good cause, did not provoke me, however, in the same degree. I do not see for my part, what other notions of Government, M r: Jefferson could be expected to entertain— It was because he was known to think in the style of this letter, that the...
4Thomas Boylston Adams to William Smith Shaw, 19 February 1801 (Adams Papers)
We have been rejoycing with exceeding joy at the news of the result at Washington— Now we hope the Gentlemen will do something. I got your letter of Monday & at the same time was informed that the choice was finally made. Our former suspence was so uncomfortable, that any thing would have been considered a relief— It comforts me that New-England would not yield, but the rest have done better...
5Thomas Boylston Adams to William Smith Shaw, 3 July 1800 (Adams Papers)
I enclose you a receipt from Watson for your last p r of Pentaloons, and M r: Lynch’s receipt for the last quarter’s rent of the house; the last you will please to give to my Mother. Frederick, the Hostler, called on me some days ago, to give him a character, as a Coachman, saying that his own , was gone in his chest to Quincy, and praying me to write for it. I promised to do the latter, but...
6Thomas Boylston Adams to William Smith Shaw, 1 March 1799 (Adams Papers)
I am now and then regaled with a few words from your store house, spread over as many lines , which brings to my mind very forcibly the words of Pope. “The weighty bullion” & ca: you know the rest. As yet however I have nothing directly from your hand. I have been playing truant ever since I arrived, and begin to think it high time to attend my office more punctually. We have had Balls and...
7From Thomas Boylston Adams to William Smith Shaw, 24 April 1805 (Adams Papers)
I want the form of a petition to be presented to the Court of Sessions, praying for a Committee to be appointed to assess damages, in case of property damaged by the proprietors of the Middlesex Canal—If you can not find a form, this side of Cambridge, you must go there and obtain one from the Clerks Office of the Sessions, where I presume you will find some on file— Our Petition must be...
8Thomas Boylston Adams to William Smith Shaw, 29 January 1801 (Adams Papers)
I received the letter you enclosed me from my father on the 25 th: inst t: with a few names of members & others, for Dennie— I have sent you three or four setts already of the P— F— to be distributed and now enclose you another— The opinion, here is pretty general, that the journal of the Silesian tour is, by far, the most interesting of all the Contents— Indeed, whatever comes from the pen of...
Next Monday (the 9th: currt) the Court of Sessions sit at Concord for the County of Middlesex—I have made a draft of a petition to be presented for a Committee to be appointed to appraise damages for the proprietors of Medford farm—Can you go there and present it—if not I will send it to my friend Danl. Adams of Hopkinton as I cannot go myself on account of its being so near last of service...
10From Thomas Boylston Adams to William Smith Shaw, 3 August 1806 (Adams Papers)
I have received a letter from my friend Dr: Chapman, informing me of his intention to compile in a series of volumes the best of the modern Orations, both forensic and parliamentary with brief remarks illustrative of each case. He wishes to know if my father’s library contains the Speech of the late Lord Littleton on the Canada-bill, Charles Townshend’s on raising a Revenue in America, so...
11From Thomas Boylston Adams to William Smith Shaw, 15 April 1810 (Adams Papers)
I enclose you two advertisements, which will thank you to have printed in the Palladium of Tuesday, and the Patriot of Wednesday; and if you think best, in the Centinel also. I have referred enquirers to you, and perhaps you would obtain Mr Sigourneys consent to leave the Key of the house in Nassau Street, with him. I am very sick to day, and expect to be bled when the Dr: arrives—I have had...
12From Thomas Boylston Adams to William Smith Shaw, 10 February 1818 (Adams Papers)
I am informed that my Nephew G W. Adams is to take his examination on Friday next, and as Bondsmen are required by the College Government, I should be glad if you will join with me in the Obligation, as I know of no one whom I can ask with equal freedom. As it will be necessary to go to Cambridge to sign the Bond, I can call for you on Saturday next and give you a Seat with me, Should your...
13Thomas Boylston Adams to William Smith Shaw, 7 December 1800 (Adams Papers)
I thank you for your favor of the 3 d: inst t: and the newspapers enclosed. I will endeavor to comply with your request, that I communicate with you more frequently, but I will be free to confess to you, that every year of my life, I grow more selfish & less disposed to write letters, merely of friendship. You will experience the same thing in a few years, & I believe you assigned the true...
14Thomas Boylston Adams to William Smith Shaw, 30 March 1801 (Adams Papers)
I had not time to write before the departure of the post to day, to both you & my mother, and having received a letter from her she was best intitled to my earliest regards, though, if I rightly remember, you favor written at Suffield has not yet been acknowledged— Watsons Bill is enclosd as you desire— Dickins is not your debtor But you are his to the amount of four or five dollars, as I...
15Thomas Boylston Adams to William Smith Shaw, 5 April 1801 (Adams Papers)
Your letter of the 29 th: ult o: is just received. with the papers enclosed, for which I thank you— The address of the Legislature is friendly— Answer proper — The letter, which is published in the Commercial Gazette, as from the Washington federalist, I had read with great satisfaction, in manuscript— I hope to grasp the hand that wrote it in a few months— The gentleman will find it more...
16Thomas Boylston Adams to William Smith Shaw, 23 September 1800 (Adams Papers)
I inclose you the Aurora of this morning which is pretty rich in contents. For some time past it has been too flat & insipid to compensate the trouble of sending it to you. I observe that the pieces under the signature of Decius are ascribed to H. G Otis— I have read but a few of the numbers, but I have no doubt the Author is clearly & rightly designated. The story he tells in his No 15 of the...
17Thomas Boylston Adams to William Smith Shaw, 29 July 1799 (Adams Papers)
The 26 th: inst t: brought me yours of the 18 th: & the 28 th: that of the 21 st: with accompanyments— Accipe gratias et incepto permanete. You anticipated my request to be informed of how the rituals were this year performed at Alma mater. I am, among other pursuits, attempting to renew my acquaintance with school & College books, for which I own I had little relish while they occupied me as...
18Thomas Boylston Adams to William Smith Shaw, 31 August 1803 (Adams Papers)
Your favour of the 24 th: is before me, and I most ardently hope the information respecting the prospect of my mother’s recovery may not prove delusive. I expected a letter from my brother by this day’s mail, but am disappointed. My suspence & anxiety have been extreme for ten days past, and nothing but your letter, which assures me, that my mother was considerably better, has relieved my...
19Thomas Boylston Adams to William Smith Shaw, 21 May 1799 (Adams Papers)
Your friendly & excellent letters of the 1 st: & 10 inst t: have reached me at this place, where I arrived the night before last, having passed a few days at Baltimore & Annapolis on my way. My tour has hitherto been highly pleasing to me, and should it conclude as it began, I shall not regret having made it; indeed a more favorable moment could not have occurred, since had I remained in...
20Thomas Boylston Adams to William Smith Shaw, 14 May 1801 (Adams Papers)
I enclose you a paper, which contains the Sentence referred to in my last, passed upon the troopers who flogged Duane. You will be able to form from the perusal of it, a more accurate opinion of the merits, than you could from my statement. The Circuit Court of the United States, under the new organization, opened on Monday— Present the three Judges— I attended & heard the charge delivered by...
21Thomas Boylston Adams to William Smith Shaw, 29 June 1799 (Adams Papers)
I am favored with your’s of the 23 d: inst t: and the enclosures—one of which is herewith returned. The Lieutenant Governor’s address is quite equal to my expectations, and there is little doubt with me, that he will rise a peg higher, merely, or chiefly because the people would not be united in any man of more capacity and talents. If any considerable interval take place prior to a new...
22Thomas Boylston Adams to William Smith Shaw, 23 October 1799 (Adams Papers)
I have yet to reply to your favors of the 15 th: & 21 st: inst ts: the latter of which with the letters of M r: Pitcairn, came to hand last evening. I have been anxious for some days on account of reports, which have been circulated with great zeal & industry, of a serious misunderstanding in the Cabinet at Trenton, and though I give credit slowly to the idle rumors of the day, I cannot but...
23Thomas Boylston Adams to William Smith Shaw, 8 August 1800 (Adams Papers)
I received in due course your favor of the 25 th: ult o: together with the volume of Debates, Catalogue & ca: for all which I return you thanks— I have been but a negligent correspondent this Summer, compared with the last, for the plain reason that I have had more pressing claims upon my attention— You shall eventually lose nothing, however, by continuing your regular communications. The...
24Thomas Boylston Adams to William Smith Shaw, 8 July 1799 (Adams Papers)
Your’s of the 2 d: is in hand, with the enclosures, which receive thanks. I am sorry you dislike short letters, because I shall make a excuse therefrom for writing more seldom & only when I have matter enough to fill my paper on all sides. Against this I am sure you will protest & on second reflection, will prefer frequent brevity, to scarce prolixity. Among my brothers books you will find...
25Thomas Boylston Adams to William Smith Shaw, 22 August 1800 (Adams Papers)
I have paid you all I owed in the article of letters, but I receive few communications from home. Please to tell my mother that I like to know, now & then, a little of the Cabinet secrets. The Report that the negociation with France is broken off, creates considerable sensation here & at New York— I think few people actually believe the story, but it serves the turn of newspaper Scriblers to...
26Thomas Boylston Adams to William Smith Shaw, 14 July 1799 (Adams Papers)
If it be only to thank you for your favor of the 7 th: I will devote an minute previous to the meeting of Court; I thank you also for the Walpole paper, which entertains and delights me more than any of the literary productions of the Country. If there were an Editor here of the same taste as the Walpole Bard, I should sometimes indulge an itching which besets me for scribling— I know not...
27Thomas Boylston Adams to William Smith Shaw, 28 August 1800 (Adams Papers)
Yesterday I received the newspapers which you enclosed with my Mother’s letter of the inst t: —& which by accident was sent on to Washington instead of Philadelphia— Moreover not having had time to read the papers yesterday, they were laid aside and I did not, until this morning, discover my Mothers letter, which was concealed in one of the papers. You will easily believe that the letter was...
28Thomas Boylston Adams to William Smith Shaw, 22 June 1801 (Adams Papers)
It falls to my lot to do things so repugnant to my inclination & so contrary to my sense of strict propriety, that I know not what apology to offer for complying, in opposition to both, with the absurd customs of the times, which so often impose a necessity of thus betraying my judgment. What answer can be given to a man who after living for a few months under the same roof with you, though in...
29Thomas Boylston Adams to William Smith Shaw, 13 June 1802 (Adams Papers)
I received your short note, accompanying the Oration delivered by my brother, before the charitable fire Association, and thank you for the promptness of your attention in transmitting it. The perusal of it was a rich repast, and though its merit did not surpass, it fully equalled my expectations. I am yet to hear from you, in answer to some of my late communications. You have certainly lost...
30Thomas Boylston Adams to William Smith Shaw, 23 August 1799 (Adams Papers)
I received your agreeable birth day tribute the day following the date of my last; since then the deadly pestilence has burst forth again with ten fold violence & every part of the City is more or less infected. The inhabitants are flying in every direction & not a room is left unoccupied at Germantown. I go there but seldom. The Banks & other public Offices are soon expected. New York, we...
31Thomas Boylston Adams to William Smith Shaw, 8 September 1799 (Adams Papers)
I have your favor of the 31 st: ult o: with an enclosure for R. Peters Jun r: which shall be delivered as soon as an opportunity of sending it, presents— I have not yet found means to forward the last enclosure you made me—which is rather the effect of misfortune than neglect, though you doubtless will think I have no excuse for being nine weeks within 3 miles of the Bishops, without having...
32Thomas Boylston Adams to William Smith Shaw, 15 February 1801 (Adams Papers)
Your favors of the 10 th: & 11 th: inst t: are received. We have heard of the proceedings in the Representative chamber as far as the 22 d: ballot, and we have admired that firmness, which puts the issue of the choice upon strength of nerves, rather than numbers. I have but little expectation, that the thing will go through, as it began— Some body will go over to the majority, but it is not...
33Thomas Boylston Adams to William Smith Shaw, 13 October 1799 (Adams Papers)
I must beg you to congratulate the President & yourself from me, on your safe arrival in our neighborhood. Your journey was, I apprehend, more favorable in point of weather than my mother’s is likely to be, for we have had very heavy rains & dull skies all the last week more or less— Even on Tuesday, the all important 8 th: , of October, big with the fate of Pennsylvania, we had in the morning...
34Thomas Boylston Adams to William Smith Shaw, 21 December 1800 (Adams Papers)
I have given an introductory letter for yourself and one for my father, to a young man by the name of Charles D Coxe; he will probably be at the federal City towards the last of this week. From himself I understand he intends making application for the Consulship at the Isle of France, and his reason for applying during the present administration he avers to be, because he is a federalist & a...
35Thomas Boylston Adams to William Smith Shaw, 30 August 1799 (Adams Papers)
I enclose, as directed, under cover to you, the Summary statement of services rendered at an important & critical period of our Country’s affairs, by an intelligent, brave, & deserving Officer. I think it an hardship that such merit & such services are so soon obliterated from the recollection or so much out of the knowledge of Gentlemen now in Office, that a statement under the hand of the...
36Thomas Boylston Adams to William Smith Shaw, 20 September 1801 (Adams Papers)
I have your letter of the 14 th: with a paper for which I thank you. M r: Reed, has written to you, in consequence of the information respecting the demur, about delivering his trunk, and contrary to my advice, has sent money to pay Bills, which he says he had already, once discharged. I never will recommend any of my friends to that vile house so help me, truth! Since my return, I have been...
37Thomas Boylston Adams to William Smith Shaw, 27 April 1801 (Adams Papers)
I have your letter of the 17 th: , which travelled, from Boston hither, in very agreeable company. I can readily conceive, the novelty of your situation in a lawyers office, joined to other novelties of quite as pleasant a nature, would tend to distract your thoughts, for some time. Without undertaking to advise you on the subject of your recent pursuit, I will barely say, that the Office of...
38Thomas Boylston Adams to William Smith Shaw, 22 September 1799 (Adams Papers)
I received your obliging & copious communication of the 13 th: and render thanks for the trouble you have taken to explain a subject, which had excited my curiosity & interested my feelings, but which, without your aid, I should have been unable to comprehend to my satisfaction. I think it necessary only to observe in reply, that I fully concur in the opinion of the rectitude, propriety &...