1From Charles Thomas Clark to Sarah Smith Adams, 20 May 1816 (Adams Papers)
You will (I hope) excuse me for addressing you openly and without preamble when informed of the subject—of the most interesting moment in the concerns of mankind. What I anxiously hope and now presume to ask for is no less than the hand of your daughter in marriage. A constant wish to appreciate justly a sincere and firm attachment returned, will be the unceasing spur to every exertion to...
2From Charles Thomas Clark to Sarah Smith Adams, 23 March 1818 (Adams Papers)
It has been much longer since I wrote to you than I intended. The opportunities by which I have sent letters to dear Susan have been unexpected and sometimes I have scarcely had time to write to her; and I know that she would always inform you and my other friends of my situation. I wrote to her the other day by a vessel going to the rock of Gibralter. My health has very much improved...