I enclose you two Letters which I received for you some time since one of which I mentioned before Mr. Smith will give them to Willink should you not be in Amsterdam and he will forward them to you the last I read and did not think worth the Postage it having already cost 5 R. 61 C. It is two o’clock in the Morning and I have just return’d from Oraniumbaum I am so tired I can scarcely hold the...
Another Letter was yesterday brought me but it gave me no hopes of your return and I dare not flatter myself yet that you will obtain any answer more decisive to this last effort, than they have hitherto given upon any point. as I wrote you once before notwithstanding I am so anxious to see him you I could almost wish you might be detained untill the coming Spring, so fearful am I that this...
I was so fortunate as to recieve your No 25 on Wednesday which was the day in course but as it was the first time I mention it as something extraordinary I shall certainly be very cautious as you request about your letters— I cannot help smiling at your affected difficulty about filling a sheet of Paper and were it possible that a compliment from your wife could have any value I should almost...
We have proceeded thus far on our journey as well and with as much pleasure as we could possibly have expected and the day I have passed at this place will ever be remember’d by me with gratitude and pleasure from the very polite and kind attention of the Governor and his Lady to whom Mr Harris gave me letters of recommendation they are a charming couple exact suited to please me as they are...
My last letter mentioned some good news which I had heard from America I thank God this has been confirm’d and a great deal beside which I had neither thought’s or hopes of I was in expation of your last Letter’s being filled with the particulars but the date from London was precisely the same and you could not recieve it untill two days later your next will however contain all this news and...
Your two last No 12 & 13 were delivered to me at the same time I presume the first had been detained at the Post Office and closely inspected and even the second was also examined but not detain’d As to Day was our Wedding day and the day on which the Emperor’s return to us Capital was celebrated I went to the Te Deum and spent my morning in praying for the success of your Mission. when I...
I had left off writing entirely from the idea that you would have left England Ghent befor a Letter of mine could reach but from all the accounts which we here recieve I find that it is possible you may remain at Ghent half the Winter therefore I have resolved to write again and trust to chance for the return of my Letters in case you should be on your way— I have moved into Town and made...
Your kind letter arrived just in time to cheer us. Charles and I were both quite sick, but are now thank God much better, though Dr. Galloway has order’d me to keep him at home for some days, the weather being uncommonly cold, and the Bridge not likely to be put up for some days. We have nothing new. there is some talk of the Emperor’s return, some say immediately, others not untill August....
No 39 arrived in due time and I have for some time been perpetually satisfied with the Post Office I hope however that we shall not long stand in need of their civilities as I am rather impatient to have you home the rappid approach of winter encreases my impatience and as the event of this negociation appears to be still unfavorable I cannot help feeling fretful and half angry at the delay...
I was much disappointed at the receipt of your last letter having flatter’d myself that you would have had some letters from our friends both in Boston and Washington The Conservateur of to day announces that you have at last recieved the answer to your last Note and that it is of so favorable a nature that peace will be the consequence of the truth of this I can form no opinion but the report...
I am charmed to find by your last letter that you pass your time so agreeably at Ghent: it would be almost a pity that the Congress should break up, as by all account you have derived so much benefit from your residence, and this Climate is so injurious, that the idea of your returning to sink again into the state of into inanity into which you had fallen, is so painful I could almost wish for...
The last time I wrote you I was so excessively fatigued and it was so late that I scarcely know what my letter contained since which I have been expecting a letter from you and am much disappointed at not receiving one though I shall cease to regret it if your silence is caused by the arrival of the English Commissioners we have news to the 22d from England from which we learn that Mr...
Your charming letter only reached me last night the roads being very bad but it came time enough to put me in high spirits and I went immediately after to a little Ball at Miss Focks were I amased myself very much and did not return untill 3 o’clock this Morning Thank God for all the good news you gave me may he still grant us his protection and as you say turn the hearts of our enemies all my...
I am sure you must have thought me mad from the date of my last letter I was so teazed with Muziks of every discription that I found it utterly impossible to write any thing like sense I however thought it better to send my letter bad as it was than suffer the Post to leave Petersburg without a few lines which would at any rate prove that we were well and preparing to join you as soon as...
We had concluded from appearances here that you would be detained some days at Revel, but I did not imagine that your stay would have been so much prolong’d. I last night had the pleasure of recieving your number 3, and at the same time the mortification of discovering that number 2 was missing this of course causes me some uneasiness as I believe few of your correspondents would be willing to...
I received your kind letter of the 30 of September in due time and although it confirmed the bad news which had flown to us here from every quarter it contributed much to console me and the revived hopes which have been created by this very calamity have nearly restored me to health though not to spirits our good friend L. is all of a sudden become so sanguine as to the affairs of America that...
Still no Letter from you mon Ami! I can scarcely account for this, as Mr Hall wrote me, that you had had very fine winds, for six days after your departure, from Gottenburg. I wait impatiently for tomorrow, in the hope that the Post of to day, may have brought me a few lines, at least to announce your safe arrival. the irrisistable desire I feel to offer you my sincere congratulations on your...
The confusion around me and the perpetual interruptions render it almost impossible for me to write a word I shall therefore only say that and Charles I are well and that I cannot see the day on which I shall leave St Petersburg as every thing appears to go wrong— As you are in France I have thought it best to sell every thing that I can sell as the frig ate to America from will cost almost as...
With what pleasure I read your last kind Letter you are capable of judging who are so well acquainted with the warmth of my feelings on most of the subjects which interest me, my hopes are so strongly raised even the news which our old friend Corbeau gave me yesterday could not destroy the flattering Visions which my sanguine imagination had created and I shall still hope that heaven will...
Yours of the eighth is come not to fill me with doubts because that was already effected but to make those doubts almost certainties and those of a very disagreeable nature if it must be so there is no remedy but I hope you have been misinformed about our commander and that he may prove better than you expect— What do you think of the English Speech? it is most affectedly peacable, and...
Your two last numbers 21 and 22 came together as usual on Saturday last. I could not help smiling at your idea of the Rose bud which though very pretty I have no sort of claim to Master Charles painted it and without my knowledge slipped it into the Letter to shew you what he could do Martha was his instructress and I had nothing to do with it at all. I always doubted the fact of the Crown...
I address you once more from this place and I cannot yet say when I shall be able to leave it as I find it almost impossible to dispose of the things to any sort of advantage no body has ready money and I am offer’d payment in a variety none of which however I am apprehensive would please you Hemillian has just left he came with a view to purchase the Carriage and offer’d to pay me in Peals or...
Although Mr. H.—has informed me that the Congress is dissolved, still I persevere in writing, as it is easy to have my letters returned in case you should have left Ghent.What is pretended to be the terms on which great Britain will treat, was yesterday published in the Conservateur, if there is any truth in this, it needs no Comment The Emperor will not return here untill the end of December...
After a very troublesome and tedious journey we have happily arrived at Berlin where I expected to have found Letters from you but I am cruelly disappointed and am impatiently waiting for the next Post which will not arrive untill tomorrow evening Yesterday I visited some of our old friends here who received me in the Kindest manner possible Countess Bhrul is very much alter’d but Miss Bisho p...
Not having heard from you by the last Mail on which I calculated we are all very much disappointed at it and very impatient to hear of your safe arrival at Stockolm— I am in the midst of confusion on account of Chareles who is order’d out immediately by Dr. Galloway and to be put on a milk and Vegetable Diet I fear this will displease you on account of the expense but as the Dr. thought it...
You will no doubt be much surprized at hearing from me, so soon after your departure; but a delemma has already occurred, and I write to know your intentions, respecting the letters that may arrive here. I supposed you had left your directions with Mr Smith, but he informs me that you only mentioned the public Papers, and intimated that you would speak to me about the private letters. I...
According to your desire I begin again to number my letters but I hope at least that our correspondence will not be prolong’d much longer and that you will soon return to cheer us again by your presence which I assure you, is much wanted Your last appear’d to me to be written under a considerable depression of spirits and I was almost apprehensive that you were sick some disagreeable...
My troubles will never end till you return and I really if it does not soon happen I shall be tempted to decamp from here whether you like it or no you will tell me that I am again in a fit of low spirits it is very true I am suffering bitterly at the baseness of the World who take every possible advantage of my unprotected situation I have just paid Mr Krehmer for the two Months rent and he...
I am this instant setting off and have only time to say that nothing can equal my impatience to see you some of my business is necessarily left undone but I hope that you will forgive all that is not exactly correspondant to your wishes and recieve me with as much affection as fills my heart at this moment for you. I could not celebrate my birthday in a manner more delightful than in making...
Your No 14 is just put into my hands and the hope it gives me of your return has come most opportunely to restore me to something like happiness my spirits were so much depressed at the parting with my Sister and her Dear Babe and the house is so dull and gloomy without them that I roam about like a spirit without knowing what to do with myself or on what to fix my attention Charles is almost...
How shall I express my thanks my best beloved friend for you very kind attention. No 8 was put into my hand on my arrival in Town where I went to carry Charles to School he wrote you a long letter yesterday which I shall enclose in this and was very desirous of completing it without mistakes but it was more than he could perform and he was considerably mortified at not having accomplished the...
I am just going to dine with the Princess Belloselsky at which I have no doubt you will be much astonished but I thought it but decent to pay my respects to her as she takes such a deep interest in our affairs. in fact the general sentiment is so strong in our favour here that though it may in itself be of little consequence it can do no harm to promote by every means in our power I therefore...
33From Louisa Catherine Johnson Adams to John Quincy Adams, 8 May 1814 (Adams Papers)
Yesterday evening I received a few lines from you dated from Heglecht. I am extremely happy the accident was so trifling, and hope your Servant was successful in his search— I wrote you the day after you left us, but I fear you will not receive my letter at Reval. Since your departure there has arrived a large number of dispatches among which was one brought by Mr Lewis’s brother who came in...
I can scarcely find time to write you into even a few lines having been so interrupted yesterday as to be unable to perform my accustomed task, and it affords another strong proof of how much “procrastination is the thief of Time” a tardy repentance is however of little avail, and you must wait for the next Post. this will only call into exerscion the philosophy upon which you used to pique...
I write you from this place where I arrived last evening and where I have again met with a severe disappointment in not receiving Letters, more especially as the public News renders my situation extremely unpleasant— I shall leave this place for Mayence this Evening and propose to sleep there to Night and continue my rout tomorrow morning at five o’Clock I shall in all probability find you...
Your letter of the 21st arrived from Quincy this Morning and I can only assure you in answer that your Mother is much better and that Charles is very well. you may therefore spare yourself any farther anxiety and hope to meet us soon in perfect health I merely write a few lines to satisfy your doubts concerning them and to express my regret at your cause not having come on when you expected...
Without knowing where to address you I cannot refrain from writing to you to inform you of our health, and our great anxiety to hear from you two posts having arrived without bringing us a line. I was uneasy at first lest you should have been prevented from writing by indisposition, or accident on the road, but on reflection your silence may have been caused by finding a number of letters at...
Having heard of the arrival of the Fingal you may suppose how anxious I am for the next Post A letter was brought me from Gottenburg addressed to you as I percieved immediately that it came from Quincy I opend it and found that it was from your and contained the most interesting news I can hear that my Boys were well I was however much grieved to find that George was to enter so soon you know...
You cannot think how much I was disappointed in your last last Letter when I open’d it I was in the full expectation of reading all the good news which we had recieved here at least 4 days before instead of which I found nothing but a melancholy detail of all the suffering and disgrace which had befallen us I hope you had heard the news more in detail when you dined with the Ministers and that...
Conceive the astonishment your Letter caused me if you can and still more the Treaty which is published in the English Papers I think it is indeed pointed at the Eastern States and that our good Friends the Yankees have some ground for discontent but I must learn not to say all I think— I know not what to do about the Selling of the goods and I fear I shall be much imposed upon this is a heavy...
Some how or other By some mistake I think I misdated my last Letter to you and it is only to day that I discover’d it. Had yours last of the 23d of Septr. not been accompanied by one from Mrs. Smith I should have been extremely uneasy, at the great depression of Spirits under which you appear to labour. The melancholy situation of our Country, warrants almost any degree of apprehension, and we...
The surprize and sorrow I felt at the receipt of your last letter cannot be expressed and I felt my exile even more than I had ever done before you will I know be displeased at my thus writing but I cannot help it and the bad news which is continually arriving makes me too unhappy to attempt to conceal my feelings. Tell Boyd how very very much I regret not seeing him the disappointment I met...
Your two last favours of the 19 and 22 of July were again deliver’d to me together at on Saturday last. I was delighted to hear you were so much pleased with your situation, owing to the amiability of your companions, but am very sorry that your absence is likely to be prolong’d; but as I have often said if Peace should really be the consequence, I should not repine at passing the whole of the...
I intended writing you a long Letter this evening my best friend but was interupted by a visit from Mr. Harris who had however nothing new to relate he appears to be a little impatient to learn what will be your fate and you can “guess why ” I believe he only does me the honour to visit me to find out if I am not likely to quit the Country soon and I am mischievous enough to flatter him with...
Your letter is this moment brought me and Mr Lewis has called at the same time to inform me that Drumond and all his Army are taken God send this may be true we have whispers of Chauncey having forced Sir James to retreat this however is not confirmed and I am in a state of anxiety to know if the letters of to day will say any thing about it This news will I hope produce a good effect and...
As the tops of the Houses here are cover’d with Snow and the winds continue to be contrary I venture to write you a few lines, my best friend, in answer 2 No 4, which I recieved this morning. the extreme irregularity of the Posts, has prevented my addressing my letters to Reval, and I have already forwarded three or four to Stockolm, and Gottenburg, which you will find on your arrival.—I am...
Your kind letter with that of Mrs Smith reached me the day before yesterday and I hasten to answer it merely to state that we are well and making as much dispatch as well the nature of things will admit I think in my last letter I mentioned a possibility of leaving this place on Sunday I find this arrangement very premature and shall not mention untill I am actually on the point of setting off...
Your last letter afforded me inexpressible pleasure as far as regards self we both likely to be pleased with our Children but to me it would be more agreeable to learn they both resemble you as I have had too many convincing proofs that I even with all the means in my power am not fitted to be or make others happy thank God they bid fair to do you honor and though we have had but little share...
I had entirely left off writing under the idea that you would have been on your way home very shortly after writing your Letter of the 2d which I answer’d and sent to Dresden. You appear to be under great anxiety about my discretion, and I am very uneasy likewise because every thing that you right write me is know before your letters arrive not from your letters but from England and I am...
In the first place I will inform you, as I know how very particular you are, that I have received No 9 and 10 with its enclosures, the last of which I have sent to your old friend the good Revd: Pere, by Mr Smith ten minutes after its reception this morning at 10 oclock. In the next place you will observe that I have number’d my letter and that you are indebted to me two numbers. my first was...