51From Abigail Smith Adams to George Washington Adams, 7 August 1815 (Adams Papers)
I have received your Letter written at Sea dated the 1st of May, and was pleased that you had kept your promise of writing to me, and I hope you will continue to inform me of what you see in your Tour, which you have marked out, in your Letter, when you tread upon the ground where Shakespear was born You will naturaly feel a veneration for the Spot, and wish for some spark of his genius. when...
52From John Quincy Adams to Charles Francis Adams, 21 August 1809 (Adams Papers)
It is related of Augustus Caesar, that being upon his death-bed, he turned just before he expired to the friends who were standing around, and asked them what they thought of the part which he had acted on the scene of human life—They express’d their admiration as their feelings or their prudence inspired—Then said he “Plaudite”. In the article of Death, Augustus was what he had been...