George Washington Papers
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From George Washington to Tobias Lear, 31 March 1799

To Tobias Lear

MOUNT VERNON 31st. March 1799.

Dear Sir,

If perchance you should happen to see Mr. Blagden before you leave the City, be so good as to get from him a statement of the preparations for my buildings therein. I do not find by inquiry of Mr. Lewis, that there is much show of this on the ground!1 I advised strongly that the foundation stone and lime, should be laid in last Autumn, when the Roads were good;—had this been done the Work might have commenced (without the hazard of disappointment) with the opening of Spring. Now, bad Roads, & multiplied excuses may be a plea for the backwardness of the Work.

I pray you also to enquire if there be any advice of the arrival of the Ship Hamilton (on board of which I had six Hhds. of Tobo.) at London.2 We all unite in best wishes for you—and I am Your Affecte friend

Do not forget my Gardener’s Dictionary at Mr. Laws.3

Letters and Recollections of George Washington description begins Letters and Recollections of George Washington: Being Letters to Tobias Lear and others between 1790 and 1799, showing the First American in the management of his estate and domestic affairs. With a diary of Washington’s last days, kept by Mr. Lear. New York, 1906. description ends , 128.

1. See GW to Lear, 26 Mar., n.3.

2. For the tobacco that GW sent to London on consignment, see Thomas Peter to GW, 3 Sept. 1798, and the references in note 2 to that document.

3. GW may be referring to Philip Miller’s Abridgement of the Gardener’s Dictionary (London, 1763), which was listed in the inventory of his library taken after his death.

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    Washington Papers
    Title
    From George Washington to Tobias Lear, 31 March 1799
    Author
    Washington, George
    Recipient
    Lear, Tobias
    Date
    31 March 1799

    Reference

    Cite as
    “From George Washington to Tobias Lear, 31 March 1799,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/06-03-02-0344. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Retirement Series, vol. 3, 16 September 1798 – 19 April 1799, ed. W. W. Abbot and Edward G. Lengel. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1999, pp. 452–453.]

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