I received this day a Letter from your father dated 21 Sep’br. it was a Letter different from any which I have before received from him.—it communicated to me, and to you the sorrowfull intelligence of the Death of your dear and only Sister. She was taken Sick in August, and died the 15th of Seb’br with a nervous fever which brought on convulsions your parents are in great affliction as you...
It is better to go to the House of mourning than to the House of Feasting, or dancing, for the living lay it to heart. you my dear Children are now calld to the House of mourning and Sorrow, by the death of your dear Aunt Smith and the only daughter of your Grandparents, the only Sister of your Father. your Aunt died last night, to the deep affliction of the whole Family—her pure Spirit I...
This is the House that Jack built And this is the curse that lay in the House &c Now George, I hear you Say, what in the world can Grandmother mean by this? why I am so joyfull, that I must Sport a little with you—but to explain, upon the 29th of June, arrived the Ship pacific at N york, from Liverpool 45 days passage and She brought news of the arrival at that place of the New packet from...
4From Abigail Smith Adams to George Washington Adams, 25 May 1812 (Adams Papers)
I thank you my dear George for your Letter. I was glad to learn that you had such an agreable Ride to Atkinson, and that the objects of Nature presented themselves in Such pleasing coulours to you The contemplation of nature, and its history fills the mind with the greatest variety of Ideas, and never brings weariness or disgust, and as an Elegant writer expresses it “The Study of Nature like...
I received your importent Letter so clearly exprest that for some time I was not able to define the true meaning of it. with the assistance of cousin Caroline, I finally discovered that you have a peice to speak at the approaching exhibition and that you thought the coat you had, was too short to appear in, and that the piece you had to deliver, would appear much better delivered in a more...
6From Abigail Smith Adams to George Washington Adams, 23 May 1816 (Adams Papers)
with this Letter I inclose to you a list of those Letters which I have received from you, with their numbers and dates. I am sorry to learn that you suffer from ill health. I would have you refrain from the use of the flute, while that is the case. it is very injurious to the Lungs while the Body is weak. You Should rise early; and ride on Horse Back previous to going to your studies. your...
I was much pleased with the improvement of in your hand writing. I have had to regret all my Life time the want of that accomplishment. when I was young, I was brought up in a Town where it was at that time, customary for Girls to attend Schools for writing, and female Education was much less attended to than at the present day; indeed it was almost wholy neglected—when you get a little...
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...
There have been two grand illuminations, the first was for the taking of Paris, the second was for the general Peace in Europe, and there is to be another much finer for the Emperors return. They have also built a superb Triumphat Arch, which he is to pass through on his way to Petersburg. I hope you will be satisfied with the Watch Mama sends you, She says she tried to get them both alike,...
10From John Adams to George Washington Adams, 27 May 1816 (Adams Papers)
The Accounts I receive of your Indisposition, excite much Grief. Your Father by Precept and Example will recommend Exercise, and he will be right: but ask him, if he has not been Sometimes intemperate, even in the Use of this Salutary Remedy. Moderation in all Things is indispensable. Riding is excellent; Walking more so; a Mixture of both is better than either. Renouce your Flute. If you must...
11From John Adams to George Washington Adams, 5 March 1822 (Adams Papers)
Did you send me a pritty address of the President of Columbia College, which I received this Morning. Who is this Revnd. Dr William Staughton, is he a native American, or a foreigner, was he Educated in Rhode Island College, Is he a Baptist, or of what denomination; he appears to me an amiable Man and a good scholar.—He says that Man on his enterance on existence, is unconscious of danger and...
12From John Adams to George Washington Adams, 3 October 1815 (Adams Papers)
Mr John Chipman Gray, who is to be the Bearer of this Letter is about to make the Tour of Europe, begining with England. If you and your Brothers Should See him I hope you will Shew him not only all the respect that is due from you to all your Countrymen, but the particular Civility which he merits as the Son of your Fathers and Grandfathers Friend. My Solicitude, for you all, has increased...
13From John Adams to George Washington Adams, 15 December 1815 (Adams Papers)
I am afraid you will be offended at my freedom; but you are, in your hand writing, at Such an immense distance behind your two Brothers that I cannot abstain from urging you to force your Attention to that elegant usefull and indispensible Accomplishment. In order to diminish that ardor and abate that hurry which will inevitably force you into a Slovenly habit; accustom yourself to a critical...
14From John Adams to George Washington Adams, 3 June 1822 (Adams Papers)
Some of Jobs afflictions and some of Jobs comforts have prevented my answering your letters, as far as no 30. I hope you will persever in stud y ing Barbaracque. I hope you will critically study his Notes and his quotations in latin and Greek from the Ancients. Endeavour to pick and search out their meaning.— Mr Russells letter and your Fathers remarks are arrived and running the round of...
15From John Adams to George Washington Adams, 27 October 1821 (Adams Papers)
Your kind letter of the 21st. has given me great satisfaction, indeed you have been very good I have received letters from all places you stoped at, as far as Trenton—The safe arrival of you all at Washington is very agreeable news—I hope you will not expose yourselves to the pestilence that walks in darkness through the whole region round about you—I hope the frosts have before this time...
16From John Adams to George Washington Adams, 12 June 1822 (Adams Papers)
I am well pleased with your No’s: 31. 32 & hope you will continue the subject. I see nothing on the quarterly review but the Johnsonian antipathy to Scotland. That Mr. Locke has had greater influence on the intellectual moral & political world than any man of the last century I believe; but to deny that Reid & Stuart have made no improvements a upon Locke appears to me an iniquitous partiality...
17From John Adams to George Washington Adams, 3 February 1823 (Adams Papers)
yours of the 26th. January is received. I pray you to attend as much as possible, to every Court, and every scene in which law questions are discussed or mooted. Observe patiently and critically the conduct of Judges Counsellors, Jurors parties, Witnesses and spectators. And by no means fail to provide yourself with an ample apparatus for writing, a pocket ink horn, plenty of ink, good pens...
18From John Adams to George Washington Adams, 3 November 1821 (Adams Papers)
Your letter of the 28th. of October has been received with pleasure—First because it is sprightly ingenious and agreeable—Secondly because it is a proof of your continued punctuality and Correspondence—Thirdly because it gives us a most refreshing assurance of the abatement of the epidemic in Washington, Georgetown, and its neighbouring region Fourthly, because you appear to be pleased with...
19From John Adams to George Washington Adams, 31 January 1821 (Adams Papers)
I thank you for your letter of the 31st. as well as for that from New York—I have been reduced so low in health that I have not been able to write answers to letters as I used to—Your letter to Claudious was sent to him, as soon as it was received—I have long been anxious for your Mother—presuming her to be unwell—And rejoice in her Convalescence— I am impatient to hear Your admiration of the...
20From John Adams to George Washington Adams, 27 July 1822 (Adams Papers)
I have mislay’d your letter and therefore cannot refer to it. I hope Mr Russell has his fill, your Father’s rejoinder is as some of the Southern papers express it, like the waters of the Mississippi, without “o’er-flowing full” There is but one vocce in this part of the world, and that is of disapprobation of Mr Russell’s conduct. The testimony’s of Mr. Brent and Mr Bailey are clenchers, and...
21From John Adams to George Washington Adams, 12 November 1821 (Adams Papers)
I thank you for your letter of the 4 Nov. I am very glad you have got so far through Hallams middle ages to hear that you are so nearly through Hallam’s middle ages. I am travelling through the same country from the benevolence of your friend Quincy, who after travelling through it himself gave me a lease of it for a term. It is a valuable compendium and I am very glad to find that he gives so...
22From John Adams to George Washington Adams, 1 December 1822 (Adams Papers)
I have received your letter of the 18th. November—your comparison of the horse race with the presidential race is happy. I believe that the partisans, of the cavalry are more zealous than those of the presidency. I rejoice that the discussion has begun so early. Characters will now be sifted, and the decision will show the national character” Know thyself ought to be the motto of this nation....
23From John Adams to George Washington Adams, 6 May 1815 (Adams Papers)
I know not where your Father is, or I should write directly to him. As Soon as you See him, pray to procure for himself and for you “Il Consulato del Mare” with all the Tanslations of it, into Dutch, German, Italian, French, English Spanish, and as many as there be. I have it only with a translation into Low Dutch. About 8 or 9 hundred Years ago, (I have neither time nor patience to look up...
24From John Adams to George Washington Adams, 21 October 1815 (Adams Papers)
I recd, last night your pleasing Letter of the 9th of Aug. which is the latest date We have had from your Family. I have read Goldsmith too, this fall, and agree with you that his style is good but he was too intimate with Johnson to be impartial. Read Human and Smollet and all such Compends as you read Epick Poems and Romances. But you must consult original Writers to find the Truth. Smith...
25From John Adams to George Washington Adams, 8 September 1815 (Adams Papers)
I have recd. your Number 2. June 30th. Number 3 and your June 8th. without number. I am Sorry you did not number this. See with what punctuality your Father numbers all his Letters, and consider the great Advantage of this practice, both to yourself and your Correspondent. Your June 8th is the production of an attentive mind, awake to the novel Sceens and great Objects around you. The Monument...
26From John Adams to George Washington Adams, 25 November 1821 (Adams Papers)
Thanks for your No 5. I have now finished reading and hearing read the Four volumes of Hallam’s middle ages. It is a great work and deserves to be kept constantly in your view. It has a good Table of contents and an ample Index, without which accommodation, a book after the first reading, is commonly a useless piece of Lumber. I esteem it the greatest work of the 19th Century. He has made good...
27From John Adams to George Washington Adams, April 1813 (Adams Papers)
I sent you by Mr Colman a few latin lines, with a bald translation. Cannot you render that translation into French? Try. I send you now a few sentences on the same subject of Caloric by which you may judge how far the Ancients were behind the Moderns, in this point of natural Knowledge. Cicero, in his Essay De Natura Deorum; an admirable Work for its Age, which I hope you will, one day Study...
28From John Adams to George Washington Adams, 10 May 1819 (Adams Papers)
You have expressed a wish—as I am told—that I would write to you—but what shall I say—we are all pritty well—so are your Father and Mother— I advise you to Study the Character of Cecrops, and the Country of Cecropia—and also the great festival of Eleusinia—and the Mystery’s of Eleusis— Show not this letter to any body living—if you show it to any of your Classmates or Collegians—they will...
29From John Adams to George Washington Adams, 21 March 1817 (Adams Papers)
I have been pleased with your Journal. I envy, or rather I wish, I could have Shared with you, your Evenings with, your Father. Your Worthy Præceptor might have Said that the whole Christian World is and has been divided, in their Interpretations of Some Texts in the Epistles of St. Paul. But Greek and Latin, and Mathematicks ought to be your Objects at present. Metaphisicks you may leave,...
30From John Adams to George Washington Adams, 9 December 1821 (Adams Papers)
The information in yours of the 30 Nov. & that we have from Susan of the health & spirits of you all is a cordial comfort to me. I am glad you have read Blackstone. As you say you are not yet informed what you are to read next with submission to your more learned preceptors I would advise you to read Sullivans lectures but above all I pray you to make it as a perpetual maxim “petere...
31From John Adams to George Washington Adams, 17 December 1822 (Adams Papers)
yours of the 9th. is received, you do not give me any account of your Studies as formerly—Mr. Smith and your Aunt have been very fortunate in escaping the Plague at Pensacola, please to give my love to them. I hope the Mexican Ambassador and his eight Gentlemen companions have brought with them plenty of Milled dollars, and Mexican Bullion, and after teaching our Merchants and Manufacturers...
32From John Adams to George Washington Adams, 13 January 1822 (Adams Papers)
I am glad to learn by your No. 12—that you are reading Burlamaqui and as he is sound in philosophy morals and Religion, I hope that you will not only read, but study him. Make an abstract or analysis of him, for I inculcate on all my young friends the maxim “studium—sine calamo, somnium.” My early patron Mr Gridley of whom you have so often heard me speak with veneration, who educated more...
33From John Adams to George Washington Adams, 12 November 1815 (Adams Papers)
Every one of your letters has given me great pleasure, and none more than No. 6. Aug. 15 just received. I am much pleased with the progress of your studies especially in the language of the Muses. When you are Master of the Greek all other Tongues Arts and Sciences you may want, will be easily in your power. You ought also to bestow Some of your attention upon Numbers and Figures as well as...
34From John Adams to George Washington Adams, 12 January 1823 (Adams Papers)
I have received your favour of the 5th. instant full of wise reflections philosophical and moral. I am glad you think so much and so prudently. You must be very happy all of you together I wish I could be one of your family circle during the vacations notwithstanding all the silly trécasseries of the times. Your Fathers notice of General Smyth was brought to me last night and read to me by Mr....
35From John Adams to George Washington Adams, 9 January 1813 (Adams Papers)
Had I been told, my dear George, on the 28th. of December, that I Should take no notice of your letter for eleven or twelve days, I Should have been affronted. But so it is. The plain proof you have given me, of your improvement in Writing, Since you have been in Hingham is a great pleasure. I am a little out of humour with your Brother, because, tho’ I See by his Letter to his Grandmother...
36From John Adams to George Washington Adams, 17 November 1815 (Adams Papers)
I have received your pleasing letter of Sept. 12. Your Situation is indeed delightful: But I hope you think more of the Musick of the Swan of Thames, than of the house of Dr Todd or the Miss Porters. Twickenham and Chiswick deserve your respect. Richmond Hill is familiar to me. There I visited Governor Pounall and Mr Richard Penn. M.P. I rambled about the place and Saw its beauties. But I...
37From John Adams to George Washington Adams, 26 February 1822 (Adams Papers)
I received this Morning your No 18—It is a universal complaint that the english Language furnishes no word to express the feeling of ennui in french. why will not inoccupation, or unemployment or idleness or leisure, or lassitude, or vacancy, answer the end. When I can write or read, or hear any one read, whether in Sermons or Romances, in Philosophy or Frevolity. I never feel ennui; It is...
38From John Adams to George Washington Adams, 30 May 1822 (Adams Papers)
Some of Jobs afflictions & some of Jobs comforters have prevented my answering your letters as far as No 30. I hope you will persevere in studying Barbaracque. I hope you will critically study his notes & his quotations in latin & Greek from the Ancients. Endeavour to pick & search out their meaning. Mr Russells letter & your fathers remarks are arrived and running the round of conversation &...
39From John Adams to George Washington Adams, 15 June 1822 (Adams Papers)
I am well pleased with your No. 31 & 32 I hope you will continue the subject. I see nothing in the quarterly reviews but the Johnsonian antipathy to Scotland. That Mr Locke has had greater influence on the intellectual moral & political world than any man of the last century I believe; but to deny that Reid, and Stuart, have made no improvements, upon Locke appears to me uniniquitous...
40From John Adams to George Washington Adams, 22 February 1822 (Adams Papers)
Do not the cannon which have thundered this morning in honour of your Namesake, in flame a holy Ambition in your breast to imitate his Virtues talents and qualities? you have received, no doubt Alexander Everetts Europe. It has been read to me. It discovers attentive observation, Sedulous inquiry and profound reflection. But it wants in many points the maturity of Judgment which is only the...
41From John Adams to George Washington Adams, 10 March 1822 (Adams Papers)
I have received your No 19, 24, Feby. When I recollect the freedom of speech, which I indulged, and in which I was indulged, and which I fear I sometimes abused in congress from 1774, to 1778, I ought not to be very severe upon Mr Randolph, or on Mr M. Durfee, I must say however that the liberty I claimed I always granted to others, and my pertness was plentifully retorted upon me. I think...
42From John Adams to George Washington Adams, 20 September 1822 (Adams Papers)
Your beautiful letter of the 8th has given me great pleasure I call it beautiful because the style is handsome and handwriting marvellous for you. You cannot be in a better school than when writing for Your Father. You will return to Your Studies with greater pleasure after having written for him George! I have read I believe in Anacharsis a law of one of the democratic republics of Greece I...
43From John Adams to George Washington Adams, 24 June 1822 (Adams Papers)
Your No 33. has pleased me much and I beg you to continue your observations on the cavilling and chicanery of the quarterly review. I grow more and more every day in love with Stuart and the Scottish school. I have had read to me three volumes of Browns lectures on Metaphysics and ethics and I recommend them to your careful perusal as well as to your brothers. They are a rich mine and mass of...
44From John Adams to George Washington Adams, 3 May 1815 (Adams Papers)
I adress myself to both of you as equally dear to me and because the difficulty with which I write, will not allow me to write seperately to each. Our anxiety for you and for your Father Mother, Brother, Uncle Aunt and little first and Second Cousin: have been greater than you can conceive. Some relief however We have received from Vessels you met at Sea, one of which brought a Letter from Mr...
45From John Adams to George Washington Adams, 29 August 1815 (Adams Papers)
I received yr last, with great pleasure and with Still more your Sensible Letter of the 17th of July, No. 4. I had before received No. 1. and No. 5.—Numbers 2. and three are behind Still lingering on their passage I congratulate you on the fresh Lawrells acquired by our Naval Heroes in the Mediterranean. They have now carried the Arms of their Country in tryumph beyond the Pillars of Hercules....
46From John Adams to George Washington Adams, 9 April 1813 (Adams Papers)
I Send you, a few Lines from the Old Astronomical and Astrological Poet, Manilius, whom you may Some time or other, think it worth your while to read, from curiosity at least. Sunt autem cunctis permixti partibus ignes; Qui gravidas habitant fabricantes fulmina nubes; Et penetrant torras, Ætnamque minantur Olympo; Et callidas reddunt ipsis in fontibus undas; Ac Silice in dura, viridique in...
47From John Adams to George Washington Adams, 15 November 1821 (Adams Papers)
I thank you for your letter of the 4th. November I am very glad to hear that you are so nearly through Hallams Middle Ages.—I am travelling through the same country from the benevolence of your friend Quincy.—who after travelling through it himself gave me a lease of it for a term.—It is a valuable compendium and I am very glad to find that he gives so great a character of MU RATORI, whose...
48From John Adams to George Washington Adams, 26 March 1822 (Adams Papers)
I am delighted with your number 22. It is not too free. It is modest enough. It is wise learned and ingenious. I have sometimes the feelings of Theophrastus who at 115 as I learn from casauban, thought it hard to die when he had just learned to live. Never was I more ardently interested in historical and political studies or Amusements. Hobard Johnson Morton, Winslow Bradford and a hundred...
49From John Adams to George Washington Adams, 16 June 1816 (Adams Papers)
You cannot easily imagine, how much Grief, the news of your Indisposition has given Us. our most chearing hopes are built upon your Foundation. Give your closest Attention to your health, for on that every Thing depends. You must Study Physick; not to practice but to be your own Physician. Pray your Father to buy Dr Cheynes Works, on my Account. Neglected, despised and forgotten as he is, I...
50From John Adams to George Washington Adams, 6 May 1815 (Adams Papers)
Hence forward I Shall adress you all three at once. Yesterday was one of the happiest days of my Life. It brought me News of your Father and Mother at Paris and your Uncle Aunt and Cousin at New York all in good health. My Boys! I want to Say Something to you on the Subject of Languages. I have no great Opinion of those who boast of possessing a great number of them. If you know Greek and...