Permit me, Madam, to lay before you these few lines put together at your request. You may indeed in some sort be considered as the author of them, for the plan is almost entirely your own and the small merit I have to claim in them is merely that of working on your design. They do not vie with the productions of the immortal masters of the art: you will find however as I trust, that they have...
2From Alexander Hill Everett to Louisa Catherine Johnson Adams, 6 July 1811 to 18 July 1811 (Adams Papers)
I reached this place, Madam, after a ride of 22 hours. I cannot refuse myself the satisfaction of sending you a few lines; not only because I suppose, it will be the first letter you ever received from here and perhaps the last you ever will, but because I think it the most effectual remedy against being forgotten at the first post. It cannot be supposed that I have in an absence of 22 hours...
I have a thousand apologies to make to you, Madam, for not having troubled you sooner with a line, which to avoid fatiguing you, I omit altogether—In fact I have as yet met with nothing of sufficient importance to deserve your attention and I can hardly flatter myself that you will find any thing here to repay the pain of reading. To be sure, I should pity the man, who could travel from...