1From George Washington to Francis Hopkinson, 16 May 1785 (Washington Papers)
In for a penny, in for a pound, is an old adage. I am so hackneyed to the touches of the Painters pencil, that I am now altogether at their beck, and sit like patience on a Monument whilst they are delineating the lines of my face. It is a proof among many others, of what habit & custom can effect. At first I was as impatient at the request, and as restive under the operation, as a Colt is of...
2From George Washington to Francis Hopkinson, 5 February 1789 (Washington Papers)
We are told of the amazing powers of musick in ancient times; but the stories of its effects are so surprising that we are not obliged to believe them, unless they had been founded upon better authority than Poetic assertion—for the Poets of old (whatever they may do in these days) were strangely addicted to the marvellous; and if I before doubted the truth of their relations with respect to...
3From George Washington to Francis Hopkinson, 13 March 1789 (Washington Papers)
Your good humour of the 3rd, which made me laugh heartily, has fairly driven me out of the field, not, indeed, into the Potowmac, but into a resolution not to strain my wits in making one word of reply, except in sober earnest. This preliminary being settled—I will tell you all I have to say, in three words: though one might perhaps suffice, for you know they say “a word to the wise is...
4[From Thomas Jefferson to Francis Hopkinson, 23 December 1783] (Jefferson Papers)
[ Annapolis, 23 Dec. 1783 . Entry in SJL reads: “F. Hopkinson—letter to Bremner—clavichord—spinette—Buffon’s theory—Rittenh’s orrery for k. of Fr.” Not found, but see Hopkinson to Bremner, 28 Nov. 1783. The reference to Rittenhouse’s orrery pertains to a suggestion made by TJ the preceding January at a meeting of the American Philosophical Society. On 3 Jan. 1783 TJ attended his first meeting...
5From Thomas Jefferson to Francis Hopkinson, 18 February 1784 (Jefferson Papers)
Your favour should not have been so long unacknowledged but that I have been in a state of health which permitted me neither to read, write or think. I take advantage now of a small remission in a fever to write you a line of thanks by Monsr. Marbois. You write in a gout (I beleive it was) and I answer in a fever. In truth amidst this eternal surfeit of politics wherein one subject succeeds...
6[From Thomas Jefferson to Francis Hopkinson, 1 April 1784] (Jefferson Papers)
[ Annapolis, 1 Apr. 1784 . Entry in SJL reads: “F. Hopkinson. 2 papers with great seal.” Letter not found, but see Hopkinson to TJ, 31 Mch. 1784 .]
7From Thomas Jefferson to Francis Hopkinson, 3 May 1784 (Jefferson Papers)
Not being learned in the laws of Pennsylvania I am incertain what will be the event if a prosecution of Scandalum magnatum should be instituted against Claypole for publishing in his gazette of Apr. 27. as an act of Congress a paper which certainly was no act of theirs, and which contained a principle or two not quite within the level of their politics. I mean a pretended act for dividing the...
8[From Thomas Jefferson to Francis Hopkinson, 7 May 1784] (Jefferson Papers)
[ Annapolis, 7 May 1784 . Entry in SJL reads: “F. Hopkinson. Subterraneous city in Siberia.” Not found, but see Madison to TJ, 25 Apr. 1784 .]
9[From Thomas Jefferson to Francis Hopkinson, 11 November 1784] (Jefferson Papers)
[ Paris, 11 Nov. 1784 . Entry in SJL reads: “Hopkinson. Send him report Animal magnetism. Roberts—pianoforte organised—have tried his quilling with amateurs—will advertize it—project to remove packets to Havre—send me battle of kegs—address.” Not found. Hopkinson’s The Battle of the Kegs , first printed in 1779, had probably been reissued lately in broadside form; see Hastings, Hopkinson , p....
10From Thomas Jefferson to Francis Hopkinson, 13 January 1785 (Jefferson Papers)
I wrote you the 11th. of November. Since that I have received no proposition on the subject of the quill of the harpsichord. The artisans here will not readily beleive that any thing good can be invented but in London or Paris: and to shew them the invention would be to give it up. However I shall still endeavor to find some one who will do justice to it. War and peace hang in doubtful...