1121John Adams to Thomas Jefferson, 6 May 1816 (Jefferson Papers)
Neither Eyes Fingers or Paper held out, to dispatch all the Trifles I wished to write in my last Letter . In your favour of April 8 th You “wonder for what good End the Sensations of Grief could be intended”? You “ wish the Pathologists would tell Us, what the Use of Grief, in Our Œconomy, and of what good it is the Cause proximate or remote.” When I appro a ch Such questions as this, I...
1122John Adams to Thomas Jefferson, 9 August 1816 (Jefferson Papers)
The Biography of M r Vander Kemp would require a Volume which I could not write if a Mil l ion were offered me as a Reward for the Work. After a learned and Scientific Education he entered the Army in Holland and Served as a Captain, with Reputation: but loving Books more than Arms he resigned his Commission and became a Preacher. My Acquaintance with him commenced at Leyden in 1780. He was...
1123John Adams to Thomas Jefferson, 3 September 1816 (Jefferson Papers)
D r James Freeman , is a learned, ingenious, honest and benevolent Man, who wishes to See President Jefferson , and requests me to introduce him. If you would introduce Some of your Friends to me, I could with more confidence introduce mine to You. He is a Christian, but not a Pythagorian a Platonick or a Philonick Christian. You will ken him and he will ken You: but you may depend, he will...
1124John Adams to Thomas Jefferson, 30 September 1816 (Jefferson Papers)
The Seconds of Life, that remain to me, are So few and So Short; (and they Seem to me Shorter and Shorter every minute) that I cannot Stand upon Epistolary Ettiquette: And though I have written two Letters , yet unnoticed I must write a third. Because I am not acquainted with any Man on this Side of Montecello , who can give me any Information upon Subjects that I am now analysing and...
1125John Adams to Thomas Jefferson, 4 November 1816 (Jefferson Papers)
Your Letter of Oct. 14 has greatly obliged me. Tracy s A a n alysis, I have read once; and wish to read it a Second time. It Shall be returned to you. But I wish to be informed whether this Gentleman is of that Family of Tracy s with which the Marquis La Fayette is connected by intermariages.? I have read, not only the Analysis, but Eight Volumes out of 12 of The origine de tous les Cultes,...
1126John Adams to Thomas Jefferson, 12 December 1816 (Jefferson Papers)
I return the Analysis of Dupuis with my thanks for the loan of it. It is but a faint Miniature of the original. I have read that original in twelve Volumes, besides a 13 th of plates . I have been a Lover and a Reader of Romances all my Life. From Don Quixotte and Gill Blas to the Scottish Chiefs and an hundred others. For the last year or two I have devoted myself to this kind of Study: and...
1127John Adams to Thomas Jefferson, 16 December 1816 (Jefferson Papers)
Your Letter dear Sir of Nov. 15 from Poplar Forrest was Sent to me from the Post Office the next day after I had Sent “ The Analysis ” with my Thanks to you. “3. Vol s of Idiology!” Pray explain to me this Neological Title! What does it mean? When Bonaparte used it, I was delig h ted with it, upon the Common Principle of delight in every Thing We cannot understand. Does it mean Idiotism? The...
1128John Adams to Thomas Jefferson, 2 February 1817 (Jefferson Papers)
In our good old English language of Gratitude, I owe you and give you a thousand thanks, for Tracy ’s Review of Montesquieu which M r Dufief has Sent me by your order. I have read an hu n dred pages, and will read the rest. He is a Sensible Man and is easily understood. He is not an abstruse misterious incomprehensi ble Condorcet . Though I have banished the Subject from my thoughts for many...