The day before yesterday after an anxious interval of two days without a line from you, brought me your Letter announcing your confinement to your chamber by the visit of that Saint far famed for the success of his Sermons to the fishes. I hope he has not taken offence at my partiality for the fisherman , and resolved to avenge my attachment to them upon you—If Dr Physick can give a final...
312From John Quincy Adams to George Washington Adams, 31 October 1823 (Adams Papers)
I wish you to keep the enclosed Letter for my father, till the next time that you shall after receiving it, go out to Quincy to spend the Sunday with him—You will then after breakfast deliver it to himself in his Chamber, no other person being present; and tell him that I have requested you to read its contents to him, and afterwards, with his approbation, to burn the copy of Verses on his...
313From John Quincy Adams to Louisa Catherine Johnson Adams, 9 July 1826 (Adams Papers)
It was as I had apprehended—On our arrival this morning at Merrill’s, we were informed by him that my father expired at 5 in the afternoon of the 4th. instt. and on reaching this place the New–York Evening Post of Friday was put into my hands, containing the proceedings of the Governor and council of Massachusetts, and of the board of Aldermen, of Boston upon the Event—You are no doubt ere...
314From John Quincy Adams to Louisa Catherine Johnson Adams, 17 June 1824 (Adams Papers)
Since Johnson Hellen departed, last Sunday, I have been moping in Solitude; but the day after he went away, I was made light-hearted by the receipt of your two Letters of the 9th. and 11th. instt. which came together—I suppose Johnson is by this time with you; but I dont know whether that will stimulate or dispel John’s home sickness—The week from the time when you left me, was one of the...
315From John Quincy Adams to Charles Francis Adams, 10 November 1822 (Adams Papers)
I have received your Letter of the 2d. instt and trusting entirely to the faithfulness of the account which you give in it, of your own conduct, am prepared as I have before promised you to make every allowance for the interruption of your studies occasioned by your infirm state of health—Hoping that it is now permanently recovered, I flatter myself you will make henceforth the proper use of...
316From John Quincy Adams to John Adams, 28 March 1822 (Adams Papers)
It has given me great satisfaction to learn that a part has be assigned to you to perform at the exhibition, fixed for the 30th. of April—and should be well pleased if it if it were in my power to be present at the performance—But as that will not be practicable, I wish you to let me know what dialogue it is that you are to speak—I feel also some anxiety for your performance, and quite...
By the Will of my deceased Father, all that part of his Real Estate, lying on both sides of the antient County road, from Boston to Plymouth, containing by Estimation one hundred and three Acres more or less together with the Mansion house, gardens and buildings thereon situated, were given to me in fee-simple, upon Condition that I pay or secure to be paid with interest within three years...
318To John Adams from John Quincy Adams, 14 February 1819 (Adams Papers)
I have received you kind Letter of the 3d: instant, full of good counsel, of which I hope at the proper time to make a suitable improvement. It is a great satisfaction to me, that my Son George has mentioned your approbation, and made himself in any manner useful to you during the vacation at the University. My affection for him induces me to hope that his time has been spent most...
Salt-Marsh— Acres— Qurs Rods Adams—Elihu to John Adams. 30. March 1772 3. Crosby—Joseph to John Adams 3. Augt. 1772 6. Crosby—Joseph to John Adams 27. Octr. 1779 5. 2. Bass—Samuel to John Adams 13. Jany 1789. 7. 2 French—Moses to John Adams 17. Novr 1792
320From John Quincy Adams to John Adams, 6 May 1822 (Adams Papers)
I have received your two Letters of 5 and 22. April—with much pleasure; and it would have been with more, had not the hopes which I had formed from your success at the last term, been somewhat damped by certain accounts which have reached me, of a less favourable character—It has given me great pain to learn that you have in the course of the present term exposed yourself to the censure of the...
( not executed—) [Deed of Homestead Exors. to J. Q. A.] Whereas John Adams, late of Quincy in the County of Norfolk, Doctor of Laws, did by his Last Will and Testament, give and devise to his son John Quincy Adams, and to his Heirs, all that part of his Real Estate, lying on both sides of the Antient County Road from Boston to Plymouth, containing by Estimation one hundred and three Acres, be...
322To John Adams from John Quincy Adams, 24 November 1817 (Adams Papers)
I have to answer two Letters from you—one of 28 October, and the other of 13. November—Tant va la Cruche à l’eau qu’à la fin elle se casse, was an old french proverb, long before Washington’s Mother was born. Tant va la Cruche a l’eau qu’à la fin elle s’emplit is the variation of Beaumarchais’s Basila in the Marriage of Figaro—But whether the pitcher is filled or whether it is broken it was...
323John Quincy Adams, Copies of Advertisements of sales of items from John Adams’s Estate, August 1826 to September 1826 (Adams Papers)
Copies of Advertisements of Stocks, Real Estate & Furniture Public Sale On Monday 18th. instt. at 12 Block at Merchants Hall, by order of the Executors of the last will and Testament, of John Adams late of Quincy deceased. 13 Shares Middlesex Canal 5 do West Boston Bridge 54 do, Fire & Marine Insurance 10 do New England do 10 do Boston Bank 20 do Boylston Market 9 do Massachusetts Bank 12 do...
324To John Adams from John Quincy Adams, 14 December 1818 (Adams Papers)
I have been delighted in receiving your Letter of the 7th: instant, and am glad that you have seen Trumbull’s picture of Independence—I rejoice that the Picture has been painted—As a collection of likenesses taken from the life, of the founders of the greatest Nation, this Ball of Earth has seen or will see, which ours will certainly be, it has merit—As the Representation of the sublimest...
325To John Adams from John Quincy Adams, 21 December 1817 (Adams Papers)
Your Letters of 21 and 26 Novr. and of the 8th: instant have been received—Of Mr Mason the bearer of the first, I have seen much less than I could have wished; and of Mr Barrell who brought the second a little more; for coming not only with your Recommendation, but with a volume of others all highly respectable, he pushed his importunity to such an excess, that I lost my temper with him, for...
326From John Quincy Adams to John Adams, 16 December 1821 (Adams Papers)
I have received with much pleasure your Letter of the 9th: instt. and hasten to answer it, that I may assign to you the reasons which deprive me of the satisfaction of complying with your request to come and pass the approaching winter vacation with us— When on taking leave of you at Cambridge at the Commencement of the term, I directed you to pass the Winder vacation at Quincy, for which I...
327From John Quincy Adams to John Adams Smith, 7 November 1818 (Adams Papers)
It is not for me to complain that the private correspondence between you and me has ceased—for I find upon my files letters from you from N 27. Novr. 27. 1817 to N 32 May 19th 1818. the receipt of which I have not yet acknowledged—As for your letters, they went on brisk and punctual to N31. Feby 7—from which time commenced a hiatus to the 19th of May—on which day two letters filled with the...
Know all Men by these Presents, that I John Quincy Adams of Boston in the County of Suffolk, Esquire, am held and firmly bound, in my individual capacity, to the said John Quincy Adams, and Josiah Quincy also of said Boston, Esquire, Executors of the Last Will and Testament of John Adams, late of Quincy in the County of Norfolk, Doctor of Laws, deceased, in the sum of forty four two thousand...
329From John Quincy Adams to John Adams, 4 February 1822 (Adams Papers)
I hasten to assure you that I have never been displeased with you for not writing to me more frequently than you have done, though your Letters always give me pleasure. It is true you have frequently left open for my perusal your Letters to your mother and brother, and I have always received gratification from the indulgence. Yet I am not desirous of restraining in the slightest degree the...
330To John Adams from John Quincy Adams, 31 March 1817 (Adams Papers)
As the Season of business and of gaity in London, advances, we have found from the experience of the last year, a sort of necessity to be for some time nearer its centre than our residence at Little-Boston; and as a mezzo termine between a complete removal, and an inflexible adherence to the country, we have taken Apartments in Town by the week without altogether abandoning our rural...
331John Quincy Adams, Account of Sale of Part of John Adams’s Estate, 27 September 1826 (Adams Papers)
Silver oz. Pwt $ C $ C 1 Large Coffee Pot 36 10 at $1,12 per oz to John Adams 40,88 1 Tea Pot 14 10 = 1,20 = = 17,40 2 Sugar Castors 23 0
332From John Quincy Adams, 7 October 1819 (Adams Papers)
I John Quincy Adams of Boston in the County of Suffolk and Commonwealth of Massachusetts Esquire, do make and declare this to be my last Will and Testament. I give and bequeath to my eldest Son George Washington Adams, all that real Estate in Quincy, in the County of Norfolk, known by the name of the Mount-Wollaston Farm, conveyed to me by my honoured father, by his Deed dated the twenty-third...
333From John Quincy Adams to George Washington Adams, 6 December 1818 (Adams Papers)
I received about a fortnight since a few lines from you so ill written that it was with difficulty that I could read them, and to my great surprize dated at Quincy, when I had expected you were assiduously pursuing your studies at Cambridge, after an interruption not less melancholy than indispensable—Your Letter barely hinted at the temporary dissolution of your Class, and by its brevity and...
334John Quincy Adams to James Madison, 18 August 1834 (Madison Papers)
Your favour of the 30th. ulto. with its enclosures would have been received with unmingled pleasure, but for the alloy of its intimations with regard to the state of your health—The partial relief which you have recently enjoyed, I will hope may have been symptomatic of a more general renovation, and reserve for you yet years of comfort and tranquility to witness the continual gigantic growth...
335From John Quincy Adams to George Washington Adams, 17 April 1824 (Adams Papers)
I have duly received your Letters N.7, 8 and 9. with their enclosures; accounts and vouchers—When in my last Letter; I observed that the account which you had previously sent me, did not inform me for what , the expenditures which you had charged against me were made, it was not my intention to require of you a full settlement, and a delivery of vouchers, at the close of every quarter—It was a...
336From John Quincy Adams to Louisa Catherine Johnson Adams, 11 August 1821 (Adams Papers)
Your Letter of the 3d. instt. only reached me yesterday—You reason exceedingly well both upon my real character, and upon that of which I have unfortunately got the reputation—I always receive with deference your counsel which I know to be generally judicious, and invariably intended in kindness to me—On the present occasion however, I have many special reasons for the request in my former...
337From John Quincy Adams to Ward Nicholas Boylston, 24 January 1822 (Adams Papers)
I have received with great pleasure your Letter of the 14th. with the enclosed extract from that of your friend Mr Nicholls—I am very glad to learn that he proposes to publish a new Edition of his Recollections, and I hope he will withhold none of his opinions upon the great topics of National Law to which he well refers.—His Portraits of Pitt and Fox are more true to the Life than any others...
338From John Quincy Adams to George Washington Adams, 10 November 1817 (Adams Papers)
Your Letter of 14. October N. 2. but Post-marked on the Superscription, “Cambridge 21 Octr. was received by me on the 25th: of the same month—my engagements as you suppose absorb so much of my time, that I am seldom able to snatch a moment for writing private Letters to my family and friends. Yet I shall always endeavour to be as punctual a correspondent as possible, and shall particularly...
339From John Quincy Adams to Louisa Catherine Johnson Adams, 2 August 1822 (Adams Papers)
I continue to receive your journals—that of the 29th. was the last; and they would continue to be most agreeable, if they all gave cheering accounts of your brother—Count de Manon called on me yesterday and told me he had seen your brother last week; and thought he looked not worse but if any thing he thought rather better than he had a fortnight before. Tuesday Evening we had a party at Dr...
340From John Quincy Adams to Louisa Catherine Johnson Adams, 10 July 1822 to 11 July 1822 (Adams Papers)
Receiving on Sunday your rebuke for the blank covers I had forwarded to you, I should have felt it more severely had I not concluded that about the same hour you would be receiving from me the proof that I had not been altogether so remiss as you had supposed. We have had since the beginning of the month such a succession of roasters, day and night that I have felt myself almost reduced to the...
Your journals down to the 30th of August inclusive are received; and this day the memoirs of Lord Waldegrave for George—It comes quite apropos; for we are now all enjoying the Memoirs of Horace Walpole embracing the same and a longer period, Lord Holland the Editor of this latter work sent a copy of it most magnificently bound as a present to the President who has been kind enough to lend it...
342From John Quincy Adams to George Washington Adams, 21 October 1823 (Adams Papers)
I received yesterday your Letter N 1. dated the 15th. instt. with its enclosure, and am much pleased with the attention you are paying to my Affairs and your own—In entering upon a new Scene of life, it is important to begin well; to commence the formation of good habits, and to form a system for the employment of time which will obviate the formation of bad ones. At your Season of life, it is...
343From John Quincy Adams to Louisa Catherine Johnson Adams, 5 August 1822 (Adams Papers)
Your Journal of 31st. July and 1st. instt. is received. I enclose you another Check for 100 Dollars, that you may be payable want of funds, if you should finally conclude to go on to Quincy—But besides the doubts which are mentioned in your Letter, arising from the situation of your brother, I have others since I have this day learnt that the yellow fever is in New-York—my fathers invitation...
344From John Quincy Adams to Charles Francis Adams, 18 May 1822 (Adams Papers)
I have learnt from some of the Letters which you have lately written to your Mother and your Brother, that you express yourself dissatisfied with your situation at the University, and that you have repeatedly intimated the desire of leaving it— My motive in placing you there, was to furnish you with the means of passing through life in the exercise of a liberal profession—By debarring yourself...
345John Quincy Adams to Thomas Jefferson, 11 October 1817 (Jefferson Papers)
I received a few days since from my father , the enclosed pamphlet, with directions, after availing myself of the opportunity of perusing it, to return it to you, to whose kindness he was indebted for the loan of it. I have found in it no material fact, with which I had not been before acquainted, unless it be the authentication by his own narrative of the author’s treachery to his Master; and...
346From John Quincy Adams to George Washington Adams, 10 August 1818 (Adams Papers)
It is a great affliction to me to be deprived as I am by constant and indispensable obligipations, of the pleasure of writing to you, at least every week; but so it is, and I am now to acknowledge the receipt since I wrote you last of your Letters of 17. May. N. 8.—of 1. June. N. 9. and of the 2d: of this Month, which is without number but should have been numbered 10. Your observations upon...
Yesterday afternoon at four, we performed the last sad offices of mortality to the remains of Mr. Josiah Meigs—It was but the Sunday week before, that happening accidentally to attend the Morning worship at the second Presbyterian Church I had seen him there ordained a Ruling Elder —He was suddenly seized yesterday was a week, immediately after returning early in the morning from Alexandria,...
348From John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 16 November 1818 (Adams Papers)
Your Letter of the first instant did not come to hand until last Monday—That of the 9h. enclosing Mr. Whitney’s Sermon upon the decease of our dear and ever to be lamented Mother, for which I beg you to thank him in my name, reached me yesterday, together with a Letter from my Son George—I am yet almost without any account of the particulars of her illness—A line from Harriet Welsh, received...
349From John Quincy Adams to George Washington Adams, 31 July 1820 (Adams Papers)
If the twenty-five Volumes of the projected compilation of English Poetry, which were published at Philadelphia, for which I subscribed, and which I promised to give you, should be sent on to Boston, you shall still have them; but it is not worth while to purchase them there, if the remaining volumes are not to be published—You shall not lose however an equivalent for the donation, and you may...
350From John Quincy Adams to Ward Nicholas Boylston, 24 May 1819 (Adams Papers)
Your kind Letter of the 15th. inst. has just come to hand—It was quite a disappointment to me upon my return from Europe the year before last, and again when I visited Boston and my fathers house the last Autumn is, that the distance at which you then were prevented me from having the pleasure of meeting you. I hope to be more fortunate the ensuing Summer; it being my intention and that of...
351To James Madison from John Quincy Adams, 15 December 1817 (Madison Papers)
In the Summer of 1816 I received under a cover from you, a Letter, addressed to Jeremy Bentham, of Queen Square Place, Westminster, a person then known to me only by reputation. I called at his house to deliver the Letter, but he was then absent in the Country, and I left the Letter to be forwarded to him. A few weeks afterwards a friend of his, who resides with him, a Mr Koe, came to my...
352From John Quincy Adams to George Washington Adams, 19 November 1826 (Adams Papers)
Your short note of the 14th. enclosing your Account to the first of July 1826. 4. Copies of Mr Whitney’s funeral discourse, and the pamphlet and annuity blank, of the Massachusetts Hospital Life Insurance Company; and also the N. 2. Glass Company’s bill, has been received—I reserve my observations upon the Account, till that of the subsequent Quarter to the 1st. of October last shall come. I...
353From John Quincy Adams to Abigail Smith Adams, 25 May 1818 (Adams Papers)
I am ashamed to find upon my file of Letters to be answered , one from you of 29. January; besides two or three from my father of as old standing—you know however the only cause, which has occasioned so long a postponement of my reply—There has been I believe no change in the office of Collector at Plymouth; and it was with much pain that I learnt it was probable there would be. Should it...
354From John Quincy Adams to Abigail Smith Adams, 23 April 1817 (Adams Papers)
Your kind Letters of 12 and 17. March, the latter enclosing one (copy) from Mr H. G. Otis to my father reached me on the same day with a Letter from the New President of the United States, informing me that with the concurrence of the Senate, he had appointed me to the Office just vacated by himself—I had never received from him any previous intimation that it was his intention to make this...
355From John Quincy Adams to George Washington Adams, 21 August 1820 (Adams Papers)
Your Letter of the 13th: instt. is received and gave me pleasure—It would have been still more acceptable if it had contained your opinion of Prodicus’s Fable of the Choice of Hercules; your account of which is correct as far as it goes—Its first appearance is in the Memorabilia Socratis, of Xenophon, and is I think there represented not as written, but spoken in a dialogue. You will recollect...
356From John Quincy Adams to Charles Francis Adams, 15 September 1826 (Adams Papers)
I have received your Letter of the 9th. instt. and now enclose a Check on the Branch Bank for 500 dollars payable to your order—With this you will repay the Coachman, his advances; repay to Mary Hellen the 50 dollars borrowed of her, and give the remainder to Antoine, for the purchase of winter fuel and other necessary payments. You and I will settle accounts when I return to Washington, which...
357From John Quincy Adams to Louisa Catherine Johnson Adams, 25 July 1822 (Adams Papers)
Another number of your journal came to hand this day—I mark your advice, to say nothing more upon the subject of the “diplomatic controversy,” and I am much inclined that way myself—I have no desire to put him down lower than he has put himself; but the opinions upon objects of great interest, avowed and urged in his Letters want putting down, much more than the man—And I have written what...
Your last Journals yet received, are of the 23d (last Monday) from Border Town—You were then engaged for Wednesday, at Mrs Lenox’s and I had concluded you would return to Philadelphia on Thursday—Yesterday therefore, and again this day, I was expecting a Letter from you, after your return. But Thursday came on here, what we take for the equinoctial Storm, and it is hardly yet over—If it came...
359From John Quincy Adams to Ward Nicholas Boylston, 26 August 1822 (Adams Papers)
I am quite ashamed to acknowledge at this day that I duly received both your Letters of 29th May and of 22nd July—The recess of Congress usually offers a period of some relaxation to the members of the administration but I have not been so indulged this summer. You may perhaps have some knowledge of the principal subject which has absorbed all the leisure allowed me by the ordinary current...
360From John Quincy Adams to Abigail Smith Adams, 2 November 1817 (Adams Papers)
Your kind Letter of 15th. October was received by me on the 20th. from which time, the only possible choice that has been left me with regard to my employments has been what necessary act of duty I should postpone for the sake of attending others still more urgent. On that day (the 20th.) the President returned to the City.—There is a routine of the ordinary department business of the...