1. Bates enclosed a printed announcement of a subscription to a second edition of The Repertory; of Arts and Manufactures, a projected compilation of original articles and essays, descriptions of patent inventions, and selected published transactions from learned societies in Europe and the United States. In the announcement, Bates publicized that he was “taking down Subscribers Names to a new and most valuable Work … to a Country like this, rising in the prosperity of Agriculture, Commerce and the Arts.” The work was intended to be a “verbatim Copy,” though for “nearly One-Half the Expence,” of the London edition of the serial publication titled The Repertory of Arts and Manufactures, which first appeared in 1794. Dedicated to John Foster, the speaker of the Irish House of Commons, Bates’s edition would appear in “Numbers” at a cost of 1s.1d. each and was projected to be printed on “superfine Wove Paper.” Bates planned to have each number delivered to the subscribers’ homes. The enclosed advertisement also listed numerous patent inventions and other essays expected to appear in the publication. These included specifications of patents for spinning wheels, leather manufacture, canal construction, and other items. Additional writings projected for inclusion in the publication included Benjamin Franklin’s description of the “Chinese Method” of making sheets of paper, an account of experiments “on Wheel Carriages,” and a “Treatise on Saltpetre.” Bates’s work would comprise agricultural essays, including a “Description of a Thrashing-Machine” (DLC:GW).

No edition of this work was found in GW’s library at the time of his death, and no publication by Bates under the title The Repertory of Arts and Manufactures appears to have been completed. The London edition of The Repertory continued until 1802 and consisted of a total of sixteen volumes. The Philadelphia Gazette & Universal Daily Advertiser for 12 April 1796 advertised the London edition for sale at “No. 107, north Second street.” The Connecticut Journal (New Haven) for 18 Oct. 1797 announced six volumes of the The Repertory for sale. Publication of a second series of the London edition, titled Repertory of Arts, Manufactures, and Agriculture, commenced in 1802 (see A Catalogue of the Library of the Corporation of London Instituted in the Year 1824 [London, 1859], 514; see also Morning Chronicle [London], 30 May 1794).

2. No correspondence between GW and George Morton has been found.

George Morton (1756–1799) of Ireland removed to Philadelphia in 1773 and served as assistant commissary of issues during the Revolutionary War. After the war, Morton worked as a merchant and shipowner. He was listed in the 1793 Philadelphia directory as a “clerk in the collector’s office.” The following year, that city’s directory listed Morton as a “clerk in the treasury department” at the corner of 11th and Locust streets (Philadelphia Directory 1793 description begins James Hardie. The Philadelphia Directory and Register . . .. Philadelphia, 1793. description ends , 102; Philadelphia Directory 1794 description begins James Hardie. The Philadelphia Directory and Register . . .. Philadelphia, 1794. description ends , 109). Morton apparently resumed his career as a merchant before he died (see Claypoole’s American Daily Advertiser [Philadelphia], 22 Aug. 1799).