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...
As I know no subject is half so agreeable to you as the Children, I hasten to write you, that they are well, that George attends pretty steadily to his french, though with some reluctance, and John goes to school and is very anxious to overtake George in French, that Papa may bring him a horse. the School Mistress is much delighted with John, she is Cousin to Miss Hanah Adams Mr. T Greenleaf...
Having forgotten to order Georges bed to be removed into my dressing room I now write to ask you to tell Antoine to have it prepared and all his paraphernalia placed within his reach—He is much better to day after having had a very bad night and a great encrease of fever in consequence of too great excitement during the day which the Doctor says must be carefully avoided for some time to come...
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...
I have not recieved a line from friend since you enclosed your very beautiful whom I permitted to read them pleaded so fervently for permission to publish them in his Anthology I could not withstand his entreaty and suffer’d him to have them, you will I am sure if this is a fault on my part excuse it for the goodness of the motive The Children are well, John has been to school to day. I ran...
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...
Mr Sergeant sent me your Letter yesterday morning and I thank you for the pleasant information it contained concerning the health of all at home—I wish I could give you the same assurance concerning my little party but the Coachman is still very ill and Elizabeth is also quite unwell. George is on the whole better but occasionally much indisposed and subject to faintness—Mary and I do better...
I still continue as well and better than we could reasonably expect my best beloved friend and shall write two or three lines merely to announce this I know to you pleasing intelligence. My milk as yet gives me no trouble and I hope I shall escape without the usual difficulties and I have had no fever whatever My time was a very bad one and lasted 20 hours Twelve hours more would have...
I hasten to answer the few lines I recieved from you this Morning to assure you that we are all rappidly recovering from the different indispositions which I mention’d in my last and I am regaining my strength I mention’d that my illness was owing to a kick but I find it is the opinion of the Dr. & Nurse that the injury which was very evident in the Child must have been done by a fall which I...
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...
Johnson arrived last Eveng. and brought me your very kind Letter my best friend and I am truly grieved to learn that you were so anxious; more especially as I did not write until I arrived at this place, in consequence of having omitted to bring some paper for that purpose—As the Stage only goes three times a week, I took the earliest opportunity after taking possession of our appartments to...
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...
Your favour of the 9th my best friend which is the first letter I have recieved from you since you left me found the Family nearly recover’d restored to usual health excepting Charles whose Cough still afflicts him and whose eyes are again very much affected which renders me a little apprehensive of another attack this symptom having generally been a of a threatning nature however I hope for...
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...
71From 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 have just recieved your letter of the 5, my beloved friend, and can only lament, that the extreme irregularity of the Mails, should have caused you unnecessary anxiety. I have written to you twice, and trust ere this, your mind is perfectly at ease on our account. I am sorry however, to be obliged to tell you, that George has a very bad Cough, and that I am very unwell with a Sore Throat,...
Percieving from your last letter my beloved friend that you suffer great anxiety concerning Charles; I can with pleasure assure you, that he is very fat, very handsome, and apparently very well; though he still has the Cough which is sometimes very troublesome. Your Mother is recovering slowly and all the rest of our family are in good health— Your father was in Town yesterday and brought...
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...
Having arrived safely without any “hair breadth scapes” to relate, I have little or nothing to say, but, that we are well, that the Horses were very much frighten’d at their trip in the Steam boat, and that Dash is the admiration of every one; so much so that Joseph is very apprehensive we shall have him stolen— In Baltimore it is said that there is little or no fever—we remained there but an...
As Mary is much better to day I hasten to write you that the Letter of yesterday may not create unnecessary anxiety—After taking an Emetic she was so much relieved I found it useless to send for a Physician and had resolution sufficient to starve her notwithstanding her freting which produced the best possible effects—This morning the alarming hoarseness with the fever have entirely...
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...
I this morning recieved your favor of the 12 which afforded me the satisfaction of knowing that you were well & regret very sincerely the strange remissness of the Mails for which I can no way account— I made my first payment to Mr. Gulliver as you directed. Mr. Shaw inform’d me to day he should bring me the money from Mr. Bradford in the course of a Week he is so much occupied in attending...
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...
I was so much hurried when I wrote to you from New York that I am afraid you could scarcely read the scrawl—We left that City yesterday Morning and arrived here at about seven o clock last Evening—Mrs de Wint is much better than she has been and I find her looking very well— In consequence of Mr Kings having enclosed your Letters to me under cover to yourself at New York I have been much...
I last night recieved your truely tender and kind letter words cannot describe the feelings with which I read it my heart swelled with gratitude and love and I almost ceased to think the stroke so bitter which proved to me how dear I am to your heart. Your plan is so perfectly agreeable that I beg you will take the house and if possible have it prepared and my Children with you by the time I...
Accept my best beloved friend the sincere congratulations of your wife whose prayers are humbly offered to the author of all good for your happiness and to grant you many many happy returns of this day that it may be the last which we may pass in affliction and separated— This day poor little Archibald was consign’d to the earth close by our dear little babe and poor Boyd and his wife are in...
We have moved into our new lodgings and are very comfortably established with a kind old Lady who is very attentive and obliging—I should have answered Georges Letter yesterday but was confined all day by one of my worst head aches, the remains of which will prevent my writing to him to day— Our residence is at Mrs. Purdon’s 62 South 6th. Street between Chesnut and Walnut directly opposite the...
22 It every hour threatens rain but no rain falls. Mr H— says his Corn Crops will be very fine but it is only a small part of New Jersey that has not suffered—It is three weeks since my brother has been out of the House, and I cannot prevail on him to stir abroad—Indeed it requires no trifling exertion to get him out of his room—The novelty of seeing his friends has worn off, and he is again...
I last evening recieved your almost unkind letter which was brought me by your brother & Mr Shaw the latter came to town to attend Selfridges trial which I understand commenced yesterday he looks very well and says our friends in Quincy are all in good health I have not seen them since my residence in Town Caleb is so bad a driver they cannot send for us I am really hurt at the stile of your...
This day has brought me an invitation in form to attend at the Capitol tomorrow to witness the ceremonies and I am told that I must go—I shall therefore attend and all the members of the family will attend with me— Mr. Wirt declines the uniting the two characters in the Oration on the plea of not having known your father personally and his Patrick Henry having proved a failure from the same...
I yesterday sat down to answer your last Letter, and wrote two, neither of which I have sent, as the nature of my feelings were was such that their expression could not have been agreeable—Altho’ still under it unpleasant impressions, and knowing that neither my opinions or feelings will ought avail, I consider myself in duty bound to write, lest you should misinterpret my silence and deem it...
Mr. Hopkinson came yesterday to see me and in the evening accompanied me to the Academy of Arts which is prettily arranged as you already know but it is said to be better this year than common—There are two Salvator Rosa’s belonging to Count Survilier that are very fine an excellent likeness of Poleteca one of Mr Calhoun and a striking likeness of Mrs. Bloomfield which is really a beautiful...
Mr Crane brought me your Letter last Eveng from Bedford but although I was rejoiced to receive it I fancied either that you were not well or that your spirits were not so good as usual—I hope I was mistaken or that it was only a momentary depression occasioned by the heat— John writes that you have been unusually harrassed by business and I am glad to learn that the President is gone as I hope...
Your letters of 17th 18th 19th were brought me on Friday, the information they contain’d, must plead my apology, my best friend, for not writing immediately, but the Shock was so great, I felt totally incapacitated for the exertion, which it required. Your Mother & Father came to see us yesterday, having hear’d of our loss. Alas my beloved friend, three times in the last twelve months, as it...
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...
I did not write you yesterday because I was so much fatigued I was obliged to lie down as soon as I returned from the Capitol—The services were tolerable in the manner peculiar to both the Gentlemen who officiated, and were a happy specimen of the tame and the bombastic—Mr. Port’s prayer was handsomely made for you; and I think the Doctor had a leaning to the Sage of Quincy, which appeared...
From the earnestness of my last Letter I am much afraid that you may think as is often the case with my friends that it proceeded from ill temper—It was most assuredly not with such a motive or in such a disposition that it was written It sprung from the feeling of anxiety which the extreme difficulty of your situation produced and under the idea that Mr Quincy had relinquished his charge...
This will probably be the last time I shall write you as your journey will commence soon after the receipt of this Letter. My present object is to mention a plan which has occurred to me concerning your father who is very desirous of going to Commencement but who is evidently too weak to support the fatigue of the day without something is done to make it easy. My plan is to engage two chambers...
We find ourselves so very comfortable here and Mr. & Mrs. Graham are so urgent for us to stay until Sunday Night we shall not be at home until Tuesday Evening—As I know you would be very anxious to see us at the time first appointed and might be uneasy I send you a few lines to quiet any unnecessary apprehensions— The Country is beautiful and our reception has been as kind as you can possibly...