To James Madison from James Monroe, 18 January 1824
From James Monroe
washington Jany. 18. 1824
Dear Sir
The bearer Richard H. Lee,1 a grand son of the revolutionary character of that name, will have the pleasure to present to you this letter. He has been employed in writing the biography of his ancestor, and has thought, as you were an active party to many of the great events of that important epoch, & well acquainted with all, that you might be able, & would give him, very useful information, in the execution of his work. It is with a view to that object, that I give him this introduction to your kind attention. With great respect & sincere regard I am dear Sir yours
James Monroe
RC (DLC). Enclosed in Richard Henry Lee to JM, 24 Jan. 1824.
1. Richard Henry Lee (1794–1865) was educated at Dickinson College in Pennsylvania, after which he practiced law in Loudoun County, Virginia. In 1833 he became professor of languages at Washington College in Washington, Pennsylvania; in 1837 he assumed the professorship of belles lettres. Lee retired from teaching in 1854 and began to study theology. In 1858 he was ordained an Episcopal priest and was rector of Trinity Church in the town of Washington until his death. Lee was the author of Memoir of the Life of Richard Henry Lee, and His Correspondence (1825), The Life of Arthur Lee, LL.D. (1829), and Memoir of the Life of Harriet Preble (1856) (Edmund Jennings Lee, ed., Lee of Virginia, 1642–1892: Biographical and Genealogical Sketches of the Descendants of Colonel Richard Lee; With Brief Notices of the Related Families … [Philadelphia, 1895], 394–95).